Beauty and the Beast

Here is a little canvas I did. The photo came from a bundle my sister bought at a second-hand shop on the south coast in South Africa. After the lady died, her niece dumped the photos at the shop. This lady had some amazing adventures: she travelled around Africa in her little caravan, she went to Spain, Greece and all during the 1940s and 1950s.

Here she is posing on a tree trunk in her little bikini. There are pencil marks on the photo where she tried to make her thighs look thinner! I immediately thought of the song "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" and coloured the bikini yellow. The gold flourishes are beads I embroidered by hand. The photo is surrounded by yellow letter beads: Z or N (depending on orientation) and O. Together they make Zero or No, another little commentary on social issues for women.

I find it fascinating that this lady was brave enough to be seen in public in her bikini, but privately she tried to alter the proof thereof. Each woman has to deal with her inner beast.

This piece is currently on display at Paperlane scrapbook shop in Dubai, where I am going to be teaching classes part-time from September.