Major Arcana: The portraits redefining modern witchcraft

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Not all my subjects identify as female, but their portraits ask you to rethink your own preconception of what or who a witch is – and thereby, who and what a woman is.” The project began when Denny herself discovered that her 10th great-grandfather was a judge in the Salem Witch Trials, a notorious period of history when 200 people were accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. “Since the 1500s, ‘witch’ has been an epithet directed against individuals – usually women – with the intent of subordinating them. “Since being reclaimed from its oppressive origins, being a ‘witch’ has both embraced that shadowy lineage and been reborn from it,” says Denny. “In a world where women’s rights are still being fought for and defended, I think it’s clear that ‘witch’ is as political an identity as is ‘woman’.” Major Arcana: Portraits of Witches in America by Frances F Denny is available to buy here