HIDDEN FACES
The 2022 Victorian Salon des Refusés
This portrait was submitted to the 2022 Archibald Prize.
click on artwork to enlarge
|
Cat#24 Mia Stylianou
DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE Self Portrait Mixed Media on Canvas 138 cm w x 178 cm h $7,000 Artist’s Statement Oh the freedom and beauty of art! One can choose the self portrait they paint. This one is based on the reality one might have hoped for in their childhood. Ballerina dresses, happy holidays, bright colours, laughter and joy; not marred by war, grey rubble, loss, displacement and bomb evacuation drills as a six year old in a class of twenty other children. “If you’re going to wait for your parents to pick you up, stay under the desk” they told us, “and close the curtains. It will slow the fire of bullets”. That was the reality in the 70’s on the beautiful invaded island of Cyprus, and when you’re six, you just take it all in and you never forget it. So here is my childhood/adolescent self portrait of choice. Bright and happy and childlike. |