The Golem Rises

In The Golem Rises, Serena Korda’s second solo exhibition at Cooke Latham Gallery the artist explores the transformative power of motherhood and the wild, elemental energy of creation while acknowledging the societal pressure to subsequently narrow, contain, and domesticate the self. Originating in Jewish folklore, the figure of the Golem becomes a vehicle for both personal and collective reflection.

At the heart of the exhibition is an allegorical ceramic frieze that reimagines the Golem’s creation, a story Korda has used to converse with her six-year-old daughter about mixed identity, inherited histories, and survival. Within this allegory, the woodwose of medieval tapestries is reclaimed, a figure most often depicted as male, and more rarely as monstrous ‘wild’ woman. In reworking this trope, these wild women are transformed into embodiments of a powerful, untamed creative force, celebrated for their instinct to protect themselves through the act of building a golem. Yet, as the myth reminds us, the golem ultimately turns on the community that summoned it, complicating the fragile boundary between protection and threat.

By conjuring a mythic city of women and merging it with the enduring science-fiction power of the Golem, Korda positions maternal creation as both elemental and political, wild and protective. The work reframes motherhood as a site of radical power, imagination, and survival.