ART MIAMI WEEK 2024 > Vasilisa Forbes - She Masters

The female old masters of the Baroque period held talent equal to their male counterparts but their struggle to attain acknowledgment was of an extraordinary effort in comparison. Female artists of the period such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Elisabetta Sirani and Lavinia Fontana painted biblical and mythological narratives and were inspired by Greek myths and the tales of Ovid's metamorphosis: which in turn feature narratives of women overcoming odds and difficulties within the complexities o relationships, sexuality and the body.

These artists repeatedly painted biblical narratives such as 'Susanna and the Elders', or Judith and Holoternes which show women against the odds and in response to male authority.

These portraits by Vasilisa Forbes and Tom Medwell take a look at the influence of women within the work of the 'old masters' in painting and are inspired by their gaze. Stylised as a dialogue on the treatment of women as mere muses, and as characters whose 'virtue' and sexual restraint would be the subject of artworks dictated by male painters.

Painters of the baroque period, both male and female, would often paint similar classical or biblical stories of the same few female characters such as Iphigenia, Penelope, Judith, Esther. What is apparent on reviewing the female old-masters creativity is their female characters have nuance and weight as opposed to appearing as merely muses and models, not merely bodies of sin or innocence as dictated in the artwork of their male counterparts.

We stylised this portrait series to reflect the style of that period, but through the gaze of the sitter, remind us that these temale characters are not just a muse or a model, but human beings with a story of their own, that the eyes can describe through a gaze alone. Each image has a backstory and reference point.

Artemisia
Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm
16x24"
$600
2024
Aisha and the yellow rose
Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm
16x24"
$600
Sibyl with Purple Irises
Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm
16x24"
$600
2024
Susanna
Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm
16x24"
$600

Vasilisa Forbes is an artist and film-maker/video-director who's also the brains behind the #WaxChick project. You might have seen her billboards popping up around London, or caught her speaking at the ICA. Controversial and thought-provoking, her focus on female sexuality in the insidious world of advertising is eye-opening to say the least." by Jade French, Creativepool


I aspire to creating art with a sense of activism for social cultural change. I often use billboards and OOH media/posters to create a dialogue.

WAXCHICK a subversive billboard story unfolded across London, placed by Annin Arts in 2015. With #waxchick I was driven to question the presentation of women, the body within advertising in our modern world.

The Waxchick film was shown & nominated at various leading short film festivals such as LSFF, East End Film Festival and ICA.

Clean Air Now is an indie, non-profit campaigning initiative created by myself and Claire Matthews, who advocate for positive environmental change in London and across the UK


Clean Air Now advocates for greater transparency, awareness of London’s illegal levels of pollution through billboards, posters and street art placement across some of the cities most polluted roads.