Psycho Fables

Lina Mangiacapre and Le Nemesiache: mythological revival, sibyls and poetic dresses

Jun 24, 2026

Lina Mangiacapre founded the feminist, pacifist, interdisciplinary artist collective Le Nemesiache in 1970, the name inspired by the Greek myth of Nemesis, the goddess who enacts retribution, divine balance and vengeance. Le Nemesiache took inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman mythology, the nymphs, naiads, dryads, oreads and the sibyls; the group combined myth, folklore, dreams and the natural world for their performances, costumes, writing, painting, and short films.

One of Le Nemesiache’s defining works is the short film Le Sibille (1980), set at the Cumae Cave in the Phlegraean Fields, said to be the home of the Cumaean Sibyl, a prophetess who presided over the Apollonian oracle. The Cumaean oracle is mentioned in Virgil’s Aeneid, where Aeneas visits the sibyl for guidance on reaching the underworld. Virgil depicts her as writing her prophesies on oak leaves, which were scattered at the cave’s entrance. The short film Le Sibille begins with a séance summoning the buried voices of mythological women. Le Nemesiache gather to dance in loose hand-dyed garments, moving across the volcanic landscape of the Phlegraean fields, the Cumae cave acting as a threshold where past and present intersect.

In their manifesto publications, Le Nemesiache discuss how their performances were intended to bring about a different historical dimension, to make them ‘real.’ To achieve this, they appropriated and embodied myths such as that of the Cumaean Sibyl. Le Nemesiache called these performances in which they embraced mythological imagination via gesture, dance and music triggering psycho-emotional transformation, “Psycho-fables.”

‘Our form of self-awareness is the Psycho-fable. In this sense, theater (psycho-fable) is not a medium but a form of psycho-emotional liberation. By revisiting the historical traces of cultural content deliberately confined to the unreal dimension of dreams and fantasy, it intends to present them as the history and reality of our dimension: the feminine.’ - Lina Mangiacapre

The costumes Le Nemesiache wore for their performances were designed and made by the group - they referred to their costumes as ‘Psycho Costumes’. In 1990, at the KGB in Naples the group presented a multimedia show, touted as poetry’s challenge to plastic for which the costumes were an integral element. The poems had to transcend plastic to regain their strength and transform it into poetry. They presented a parade of poetic dresses made with plastic sheets. The presentation ended with a choral dance and the entrance of the Sibyl Niobe who played a game of poetic oracle with the audience.

Poetry transcending plastic 1990, a show at the KGB in Naples.

Poetry transcending plastic 1990, a performance at the KGB in Naples.

Le Nemesiache aimed to revive myth, reclaim its roots and forgotten territories. The images and film which capture their performances are still compelling viewing and remind us of mythologys interesting ability to bridge and transcend time.