Wild Darling 2019

Editor: This is Jana Brike's "Wild Darling" from 2019, made with acrylic paint. It feels…almost like a dream, a very intimate dream. There's a woman with birds and butterflies all around her face. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a potent interrogation of the boundaries we construct between ourselves and the natural world. Brike, here, uses a symbolist language that, when viewed through a feminist lens, challenges the patriarchal control over the female body. Editor: Could you expand on that? I’m not quite following. Curator: Look at how the woman is positioned: eyes closed, seemingly passive. But is she truly passive? The birds, the butterflies – traditionally symbols of fragility and beauty – interact with her in a way that suggests symbiosis, a sharing of power, almost as though the inner and outer realms are porous, reflecting on identity, gender, and power dynamics. Are we witnessing an act of reclamation? How does it challenge our expectations of the female portrait? Editor: So, you're saying the passivity might be a kind of strength? A deliberate subversion of how women are typically represented? I never would have considered it that way. I guess the vulnerability is deceiving. Curator: Precisely! Consider, too, the current ecological crises and the increasing awareness of intersectionality. Brike seems to be tapping into a collective consciousness, blurring the lines between the human and the animal, woman and nature. What is "wild" about her darling, I wonder? Editor: It's fascinating how much context can change your perception of a painting. I was only thinking about the immediate beauty, the fairytale aspect. Curator: And that is important, too! It's about holding both ideas, the aesthetic pleasure, and the deeper interrogation, in the same space. Editor: I'll definitely be looking at portraits differently from now on!