To have the figure of Eve stare back at the viewer also makes them feel more like they are part of the painting (for that reason, the parrot also looks out at the viewer). It's almost as if her confrontational glance serves as a warning, a prophecy of what is to come. I wanted Eve to engage directly with the viewer, as she becomes a vessel for the broader story. Sahara: It felt more natural to allow Eve's gaze to meet the viewers, and this was something I painted instinctively. Can you tell us more about the decision – were you thinking about the male gaze? Lydia: In your rendition of the subject matter, the gaze of Eve meets the viewer's. It was sad to learn about the history, so it was playing on my mind while I created this work. I had been in Sierra Leone just before completing this work and visited the Banana Islands that were historically slave islands. In my version of the subject, the forbidden fruit has also been replaced by glass beads, referencing the act and history of trading objects for enslaved peoples. I was playing on the idea of the 'fall of man' not from the Biblical perspective, but the fall of Africa during the transatlantic slave trade. In the background of my work The Fall of Man (2020) a ship is visible between the figures of Adam and Eve – this was supposed to represent a slave ship. You'll notice other small differences between my painting and Rubens'. It seemed boring to simply recreate the subject of Adam and Eve as it has been done before. I respect artists such as Titian and Rubens, and I wanted to continue that visual language but put my own take on it. I'm also interested in the German movement of Die Brücke and the artists who used heavy lines to guide the viewer's eyes around a painting.Īlthough my work references art history, I'm not trying to provide a critical commentary. I've always been interested in German Expressionism, and those artists who use colour to convey emotion. Sahara: I'm interested in so many artists, historical and modern, but when I was studying classical painting a lot of these artists were pressed upon me so that's where the interest developed. Lydia: What art historical references or artists tend to interest (or bother) you the most? It didn't really occur to me to use white figures. I changed the figures to Black figures because it was more interesting to me, it felt more comfortable. Imitating the compositions found in Old Master paintings helped me, but I wanted to add my own twist. When I left I started to create large-scale paintings in the classical style, but I was still grappling with composition and how to place figures. Cecil Studio in Florence – it was four years of classical painting in total. I had already started learning about traditional oil painting techniques at the Charles H. 2020, oil on jute by Sahara Longe (b.1994)
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