Sociopolitical Conscious
Soheila Sokhanvari + Amy Sherald + Hope Gangloff
Soheila Sokhanvari, creates small portraits of women who have been erased from Iranian cultural history, explaining, “They were banned from acting, singing, from dancing. As a female artist, I feel it’s a very important story to tell. I want to draw attention to their struggle.” A vibrant celebration of Iranian rebel women – in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian)
Sokhanvari uses her practice to tell the histories and stories from within. The exhibition ‘Rebel Rebel’ gives these women a voice, not only in image but with sound projection of Marios Aristopoulos. (Soheila Sokhanvari: Rebel Rebel | Barbican) The sound projection combines songs from different Iraian singers, bringing their voices to the space among the paintings of forgotten Iranian women.
Sokhanvari, uses ‘traditional technique of egg tempera on calf vellum…’ The use of calf vellum is symbolic as the calf represents the sacrificial animal in many monotheistic religions. This calf then becomes a symbol of sacrifice for Sokhavari and her subjects. https://www.soheila-sokhanvari.com/about/
Recently I experimented with egg tempera on a technical level. The histories associated with this traditional practice were inspiring, such as the Fayum Mummy Portraits in Egypt. I enjoyed the idea of utilising this traditional method of painting icons to be used to paint women from my every day. This historical context becomes jovial when I then use it to depict women from my network. The glow and power of the colours from egg tempera shocked me; they have a luminosity which I haven’t been able to match when using oils. The slow, layering element of Egg Tempera was methodical and enjoyable, and the creation of a painting became a true labour of love and science. The dedication and time needed to create egg tempera feels like a medium worthy of the iconic women I represent.
My Egg Tempera painting: ‘Ellie’, highlights the direction my work is moving towards, thinking about the figure occupying most of the pictorial space. The colour palette of ‘Ellie’ is conversational with the composition of a Sokhanvari painting. However, the composition of Sokhanvari’s work is something I am keen to emulate further in my own work: some sections are made up of cross-hatching for the skin, while other elements of the painting, such as the fabric is flat and bursts with colour: the contrast draws the eye.
Gangloff paints her subjects often larger than life. She started her career documenting the groups of people around her. She often painted young people at parties or in shared housing. Her work represents the younger generation and the struggles they often face finically. Her work often has a blue tinge to it, her subjects sit in domestic spaces, surrounded by plants and patterns. Seeming to document a bohemian lifestyle. Gangloff’s subjects often don’t know you’re looking into their face, and you sometimes feel like a voyeur as women are sat in the bathroom half dressed, applying nail varnish, and you’re casually observing.
You see private and personal moments. Her work juxtaposes flat plains of colour with patterns of vertical lines and cross-hatching. Gangloff’s colour palette is unrealistic and unnatural; sometimes, she uses almost toxic highlighter colours within her paintings. This seems to transform them into an almost otherworldly place. I am drawn to the everydayness of Gangloff’s work; her subjects feel compatible with her skin and with exposing themselves to her gaze. Although her subjects often reclined, resting, or drinking tea, the blue tones create a sense of unease and tension. I am interested in using colour in this way and have been using yellow as a starting point.
Sherland’s subjects are often not known to her, instead, finding strangers on the street and inviting them back to her studio for ‘long photography sessions, so her sitters become accustomed to the process and settle into a natural pose’ P 168 Women Painting Women.
This method is one I employ myself as a way of seeing actual body language, not just expected positioning. While Sherland often paints strangers, my subjects have always been friends, network and family. They are people I have a connection with and can knowingly represent elements of their truth and essence. Although I loosely direct my subjects in their body positions, I want the works to feel natural and reflective of the subject’s personalities.