Samotrzeć

Beata Ewa Białecka's paintings are styled on the works of old masters and constitute the portraits of women whose images are known from Christian iconography, mythology and pop culture. In her work Samotrzeć (Matterza) the artist directly refers to the biblical presentation showing Anna, Maria and Emmanuel (Jesus). This motif, very popular in old paintings, is deprived of biblical context by replacing Emmanuel with a female character – Emmanuela. This is the conversion of a male icon into the female one, which symbolically shows the eradication of the male element, dominant in Christian iconography. Emmanuela, a female saviour, has embroidered red roses instead of stigmata. Those are virtually pierced spots, as if “wounded” by a needle. The picture Samotrzeć constitutes a dialogue between traditional iconography and contemporary times, in strict painting narration.