Artwork: Lady of the Beasts (the dark night of the soul)
Artist: Sarah Hickey
About the Artwork: Inside all of us, there is a jungle; a vast, mysterious wilderness thriving with life.
Such is the basis for Australian artist Sarah Hickey’s latest collection, Interior Jungles. A blend of fauna and flora pulsing with feminine energy, Hickey’s work has never been better.
Lady of the Beasts draws parallels with the self-portraits of Frida Kahlo, who often painted herself accompanied by (or even as) animals, but Hickey goes further by portraying the creatures as reflections of the lady herself. They carry a softness, represented by the blush on their cheeks, but still retain their strength and majesty. So too do the versions of the lady that inhabit the canvas. Which is the true woman? It’s easy to presume, but this presumption, this expectation, is part of what the piece is all about.
“The visage we present, particularly as women, is courteous and cultured, shaped into conformity, polished by an inexorable spray of opinions and expectations and self-regulation to reflect the world around us,” reads the abstract on the collection presented on Hickey’s website.
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To see more of Hickey’s work, visit www.sarahhickey.com.au
You can also go behind the scenes over on her Instagram.