Created in 2008, by Luciano Garbati, an Argentine artist with Italian roots, and standing tall in the centre of Collect Pond Park, in Lower Manhattan, or Downtown New York City since 2020, Medusa with the Head of Perseus, a bronze sculpture, depicts a beautiful, naked Medusa, with her gaze low and intense, holding a sword in her left hand and the head of Perseus in the other. The work was inspired by a 16th-century bronze statue of Benvenuto Cellini, named Perseus with the Head of Medusa, depicting a nude Perseus holding up the severed head of Medusa by her snaky mane. However, Luciano Garbati conceived the idea of reversing the story, an inversion of the centuries-old myth, and imagining it from the perspective of Medusa, intending to show the woman behind the commonly known Medusa, the monster. But later, it was hailed by the media as an icon of justice and a symbol of triumph for the victims of sexual assaults, when the nearly seven feet tall statue was unveiled in October 2020 in the Collect Pond Park, just across the street from the criminal courthouse on Centre Street, where a man accused of sexual assault during the #MeToo movement was prosecuted.

According to Greek Mythology, Medusa was the only mortal of the three monstrous Gorgons, known for her loathsome snaky-hair and her terrible ability to turn people to stone by her glance. But despite being a mortal one, Medusa was the lover of Poseidon, the personification of the sea, storms, earthquakes, and got impregnated by him. However, as depicted by the ancient Roman poet Ovid, Medusa was a beautiful virgin priestess, serving the temple of Athena, although the goddess envied her beauty. She was also described by Hesiod, an ancient Greek poet, in his Theogony, as an exceptionally beautiful woman, whose crowning glory was her long and lovely hair, and Poseidon was sexually attracted by her divine and radiant beauty and raped her in the sacred temple of Athena. The incident earned the wrath of Goddess Athena, and instead the rapist, she cursed Medusa for the desecration of her temple, and transformed her beautiful hair to loathsome snakes, which made her face so terrible that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone. As if that was not enough, she instructed Perseus, the son of Zeus, to kill Medusa. Equipped with a reflective bronze shield from Athena and a sword from Hephaestus, the god of fire and metalworking, Perseus faced Medusa, and avoiding her petrifying gaze by using Athena’s polished shield, he severed her head with his divine sword, who at the time was carrying Poseidon's unborn children.

Although Medusa was the victim of rape by Poseidon, Athena unjustly punished her, instead of the rapist, and the story communicated to women of the world for millennia that if they are raped, it is their fault. Luciano Garbati challenged this traditional view through his sculpture, which served as a direct response to Benvenuto Cellini's 16th-century bronze masterpiece, Perseus with the Head of Medusa. However, after its installation in Collect Pond Park, the sculpture became popular as a symbol of triumph for the victims of sexual assaults, especially for its location, which is directly opposite the Criminal Courthouse in Manhattan, where Harvey Weinstein, accused of rape and sexual assault, was sentenced to twenty-three years’ imprisonment in February 2020.

Medusa with the Head of Perseus was created by Luciano Garbati in 2008, nearly a decade before the Me Too movement became universal, but during the movement it became the symbol of female rage, capable of protecting herself from any grave situation, even kill a strong man trying to kill her. However, some advocates of feminism complained that a statue signifying a feminist movement like #MeToo, should have been commissioned by a female sculptor, instead of a man. Luciano was also accused of his choice of a European myth for a movement that started by an African-American woman. It was also argued by many that Medusa in the statue looks strong, but too thin, and devoid of captivating female beauty, which is unlike many classical female nude sculptures from Greek mythology, gracefully complete with alluring figures, added to their voluptuous curves. In addition, it was also complained by many that in the statue, the expression of Medusa looks sulky, instead of being vindicated and triumphant. Moreover, she should have ecstatically held the severed head of Perseus aloft in her outstretched arm, rather than casually holding it downwards. Nevertheless, despite of everything, the statue is regarded as an embodiment of female rage and flipping patriarchal values on its head.