In the Balance June 10 - 19, 2021
In the Balance
I have always been fascinated by what we choose to wear and why.
As an actress, a dancer, a woman — I understand costume intimately. The way we dress is never accidental. It is performance, armour, declaration. A shoe can anchor you to the floor or launch you into the air. An accessory can whisper or shout. Every choice we make about how we present ourselves to the world is a negotiation between who we are and who we are allowed to be.
In the Balance began with that negotiation.
These are my muses — women I know, women I love, women who share with me a passion for movement and dance. I gave each of them complete freedom to express exactly how they wished to be seen. No direction. No agenda. Just: show me who you are. What emerged was extraordinary. Each woman arrived with her own language — her stance, her gaze, her shoes, the particular way she inhabited the space. My job was simply to witness that and paint it honestly.
Throughout art history it has been men who held the brush while women held the pose. I am acutely aware of that history. These works are my response to it — not as polemic, but as practice. Each portrait is a collaboration. Each subject is entirely, unapologetically in control of her own image.
I paint almost life-sized because scale matters. I want you to meet these women as equals — eye to eye, body to body. Their gazes are direct and unwavering. They are not asking for your approval. They are not performing for you. They are simply, completely themselves.
And yet — look closely. The gentle drips that form on their bodies tell another story. Strength and vulnerability are not opposites. They live together in every one of us. That duality is what I am always painting toward. The place where the armour and the tenderness meet.
That is what I mean by In the Balance.
Essay by Nicole Hauser, June 2021
