Elly Strik (1961)
Elephant Woman
2004 | Oil and lacquer on paper | 300 x 205 cm
As a child, Elly Strik had hearing problems, so she learned to identify faces and explore expressions. While her difficulties disappear, the themes of the face and the mask become a recurrent aspect of her work.
Her self-portraits are characterized by a great ambivalence between monumentality and intimacy. She allows herself all the subterfuges to appear and disappear under the most diverse features: jellyfish, gorilla, slave, Palestinian with a veiled face... In these metamorphoses of the feminine and its representation, Elly Strik invites us to confront ourselves with ambiguity. She hides and shows herself: "It is when I make a self-portrait that I get most involved, that I open up new perspectives".
Show me more
