The artist, Venus
2025. Oil and plastic on wooden board. 25.5 x 20 cm.
“Venus” figurines are small carved sculptures of women from the Palaeolithic period, discovered across Eurasia and parts of Siberia. They are among the earliest known works of prehistoric art, yet their purpose remains uncertain. Many feature exaggerated hips and breasts, tapering legs, and absent or indistinct faces. These qualities have led to theories that they symbolise fertility, motherhood, or a goddess figure.
My favorite theory, is that these statues may have been self-portraits carved by women themselves. Without access to mirrors, they may have looked down at their own bodies—perhaps reflected in water—producing the distinctive, exaggerated proportions we see in the sculptures.
I love this interpretation because it overturns the traditional view of women as passive objects. Instead, it presents them as creators—artists from the very beginning of human history.
This work is both a reimagining of the “Venus of Willendorf” and a self-portrait. Here, she is displayed in a museum as an artist in her own right, dressed just as I am when I am at the easel: in a worn apron, surrounded by a chaotic scattering of brushes and paint, with slightly askew glasses perched on her face.
Available in November 2025.