NYAB Event - Natalie Shau “Forgotten Heroines”

Natalie Shau “Forgotten Heroines”

Last Rites Gallery

This event has ended.

Natalie Shau is a digital artist known for her visually stimulating compositions laden with vibrant colors, fashion inspired framework and tantalizing Lolita figures. Shau’s digital paintings combine a number of steps beginning with a photographic shoot put together and shot by the artist herself, incorporating props and more, followed by digital manipulation and painting. As a result, Shau’s paintings blend the real with the fantastical and directly confront the viewer with moral questions and through her use of symbols, an embedded deeper meaning.

Forgotten Heroines honors females of the past and present for their strength, endurance and loyalty through adversity. On the surface, one is easily attracted to Shau’s use of color, seduction and rococo grandeur, yet visible as well are a slew of symbols, metaphors and references stemming from myths and legends, spanning Norse, Greek, Hebrew and Christian mythology, amongst others. Shau’s women are not being objectified; rather, they are entrancing you through their gaze and plumage to assert their power and importance. Names such as Lavinia, Lilith, Miriam wash over biblical and mythological tales of the powerful influence and impact women have had over their male counterparts. Others such as Eclipse, Her Tears are Poison, and Hiding Place remind us of the solitude of women in power to keep their family and household safe from threat. Reoccurring symbols of emblematic flowers, crows, serpents, black tentacles and eyeballs further support the artist’s powerful reminder of all that women sacrifice and endure as they serve as pivotal figures in history.

Through her paintings, Shau aims to remind us that heroism comes in many forms. These women are mothers, wives, deities, prophets and catalysts. None of her females smile but instead confidently take their stand and accept their destiny.

Media

• Painting

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