Lamina II 2019

Mary Jane Ansell’s “Lamina II” presents a young woman amidst a dark floral array. This composition evokes the vanitas tradition, where flowers symbolize beauty's fleeting nature, a concept that blooms across centuries. The blooms and bugs draw strong parallels to Dutch Golden Age painting, where each petal and insect carries allegorical weight. Yet, Ansell subtly alters the formula. The woman's gaze isn't heavenward, nor is there an obvious symbol of mortality. Instead, she looks askance, seemingly lost in thought, her expression enigmatic. It is as if the artist taps into a collective memory of female representation in art history, from Botticelli's Venus to the Pre-Raphaelite muses. The red hair is a symbol that has transformed through the ages, signifying passion, mystery, and even danger. This evokes a sense of introspection, inviting us to reflect on how we project our own desires and anxieties onto the female form. A powerful and emotionally resonant image. The symbolic motifs reveal the cyclical nature of how symbols evolve, are reinterpreted, and take on new meanings as they are passed down through history.