BETWEEN STRENGTH AND SENSITIVITY: MIA CHAPLIN
I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself.
Simone de Beauvoir
Through her art, Mia Chaplin, a painter and sculptor from Cape Town, South Africa, speaks about the female experience: a profound commentary on the life of women, articulated through her painting and sculpture techniques, reflecting the complexities, struggles, and beauty of womanhood.
Her works, their sensitive and provocative nature, explore the themes of sexuality, sensuality, intimacy, even violence.
In Mia's paintings, rigid strokes and delicate figures coexist against dark, sometimes harsh backgrounds, mirroring the resilience and vulnerability of a woman. Her unique approach to the female body, treating it with love and understanding, makes her figures appear almost ethereal, soaring in the air, yet grounded in their strength and gorgeousness.
When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Audre Lorde
Mia's technique, reminiscent of Kokoschka's style but with a more straightforward and robust approach, delicately balances colors and textures. Up close, her strokes can seem indecipherable, but from a distance, they blend into complex and tender representations of life and emotion.
In her work, Mia embraces the 'bad girl' motif, reclaiming behaviors typically associated with masculinity to empower her figures through the critique of societal expectations, validating the pain, anxiety, anger and frustration felt by many while advocating for healing, empowerment and inherent, feminine beauty.
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.
Charlotte Brontë
This defiance is particularly poignant in South Africa, where gender-based violence and discrimination are rampant, feeding into harmful social behaviors and attitudes.
Mia's art challenges the traditional archetypes of femininity imposed by society, presenting characters that defy these norms. From the foreboding damsel to the vengeful woman, to the gentle, sleepy, naked beauty, her figures break free from stereotypes.
Provoke. Relax. And then provoke again.
