A fresh interview with Sandra Chevrier went live on PROHBTD.com yesterday. The Canadian artist exhibited her latest body of work at Thinkspace Gallery this past October for a nearly sold-out show, The Cages; and the Reading Rooms of their Lives. Visit PROHBTD’s website for the full interview with Chevrier and view available work by her on the Thinkspace Gallery website.
If a woman facing high expectations were to see your work, what emotions and feelings would you hope she would experience?
Art to me is not only a way of expression, it is a language on its own. I’ve always used it to release my inner demons. I now try to reflect not only my inner vision but find a matter that will speak to a larger audience.
The way I see it, the work demands to be dissected beyond its surface value. The masks that overlay the portraits are quite literally torn between the fantastical heroics and iconography of comic books and the harsher underlying tragedy of oppressed female identity and the exposed superficial illusion therein. Inside the male-dominated world within the Cages, my subjects denounce the role given to the female counterpart therein, refusing to play the part of seducer or victim. Also, the images used within the “cages” range from scenes of conflict, triumph and defeat. It gives focus to the latter, highlighting the fragility of the superhero, their own struggles and weaknesses, exposing the humanity within the superhuman. Society is asking us to become Superheros; we should allow ourselves to be fragile.
