Siren show stars ancient Greek artwork

The 2,500-year-old vase showing the Sirens and Ulysses

An ancient Greek vase on loan from the British Museum is the highlight of a new exhibition in Hull.

Sirens, Women and the Sea is being shown at the Ferens Art Gallery until 5 March.

The exhibition explores how women have been portrayed as the sirens – mythological creatures whose song lured sailors to their deaths.

The vase, which dates from the 5th Century BC, features the first known depiction of Ulysses and the Sirens.

The exhibition explores women and the sea in art

Maddie Morris, the artist behind the exhibition, was inspired by James Herbert Draper's painting of Ulysses and the Sirens, which dates from 1909 and is in the Ferens' collection.

They used this as a starting point to explore gender and LGBT narratives.

"In the painting, Ulysses is tied to the mast of a boat and there are these female sirens singing while the other men on the boat looked scared, angry and even disgusted," they said.

"There's almost a line going down the middle and when the women are reaching out, the men are pulling away.

"I thought about what the women could have been saying that made the men want to distance themselves and it made me think a lot about the narratives of LGBT people and how challenging they can be for a lot of audiences."

Maddie Morris with the painting by James Herbert Draper

They added: "Art is able to tell so many different stories and I hope I'm able to do the same thing."

The exhibition also features works by the Pre-Raphaelite artists John William Waterhouse, Evelyn De Morgan and Edward Burne-Jones.

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