The Mother of Nature, Lena Mai

The Mother of Nature analyses the stereotypical image of women from 1860 until now. The function of superficiality is thematised in four working worlds and is a play on feminism and sexism.

The work consists of four cotton canvases. These are pre-treated with an impregnation only, so that the fabric remains recognisable in its natural structure. The panels are all the same size and are 1 m high and 1,40 m wide. Female illustrations were taken from artists‘ books, magazines, newspapers, brochures and children’s colouring books and typologically assigned to four groups: Teen, Model, Muse and Playmate.

Due to the different paper thickness of the various print media, the back of the image with its random image to text fragments is occasionally reflected on the image surface. The resulting transparency and image permeability suggests imagination, illusion or fiction in some places.

1. Teen
2. Model
3. Muse
4. Playmate