La Cage Pres du Ciel (The Cage Near the Sky)

Canadian artist Sandra Chevrier creates contemporary pop art that merges painting and collage. In her most well-known series, The Cages, she combines hand-painted portraits of women with iconic imagery from the comic book world — only leaving the eyes and mouth unmasked. Chevrier's work creates a new kind of hero, contrasting the fantastical heroics and iconography of comic books with the harsher underlying tragedy of oppressed female identity and the exposed superficial illusion it conveys.

For the 2015 Nuart Festival, Chevrier was tasked with creating her first outdoor mural and the inaugural mural for The Aftenbladet Wall, a partnership between Nuart and regional newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad. Entitled "La Cage Pres du Ciel", the work depicts a pair of female eyes staring at the viewer on top of a collaged background of traditional comic book art. Unlike conventional billboard takeovers, The Aftenbladet Wall is unique in being a permanent site for public art instead of a temporary intervention.