Felicity is a London born and based artist and her work is a response to issues that affect her in contemporary culture and society. She combines imagery and graphics to create pieces that are often confrontational and challenging.
ARTWORK
Net Worth, 2017
Screenprint on paper
‘Net Worth’ is taken from a life-drawing done originally in charcoal. It shows a female figure lying on the ground covered by a loose-weave net. The woman is unmoving and seems to have no ability or will to extract herself from beneath the fabric that is trapping her. I wanted to visually express how it feels for a victim of coercive control to be stripped of all her autonomy and subjugated so completely that even the choice to recognise the suffocation which has been gradually, incrementally and progressively placed upon her becomes beyond her power. Similarly how, from an external perspective, it may seem that her status within the relationship is that of a peaceful and desired subordinate role with only the lightest of occasional nudges being used by the partner for guidance. The reality and violence of effective enslavement in mental, physical and emotional terms is one of the most damaging yet invisible forms of abuse and has profound repercussions for those who suffer it.
Neon Nude, 2015
Acrylic on paper
Neon Nude is a painting done from life of a female body in a submissive position as seen by the imagined eye of a potential valuer or buyer assessing a ‘product’ within the dark, exploitative underbelly of the porn industry. The woman is depersonalised and dehumanised by the focus on her body and the exclusion of her face. The flesh is depicted in grayscale as a further flattening of her individuality and to contrast against the garish violence of the fluorescent red background. This piece speaks to the disempowerment and devaluing of the strength and beauty of the female form through the normalisation of the ‘phone box prostitute card’ and internet porn. By re-expressing a similar image in a traditional medium does the value shift, or is the issue just further highlighted by the contrast?
