An exhibition of works by artist Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf

Private View: Friday 12^th of June 2009 - 6 pm to 11 pm

Exhibition runs from:                    Friday 12^th to 18^th of June 2009

Gallery Opening Hours:                Fri, Sat, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs: 2.30 pm - 6.30 pm

Last day of Exhibition:                  Thurs 18^th of June: 11.00am to 5.00pm

Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf’s latest series begins to examine the effects of illness on personal image and identity through a study of three female alopecia sufferers (alopecia is a medical condition where hair is lost from the head or body, sometimes to the extent of baldness).

Rebecca’s work always focuses on the human form, especially the female form and images of feminine beauty that both captivate and terrorise. This concern with female beauty, image and identity has lead to an interest in the way in which the 'self' can be extended and expressed through the addition and alteration of a multitude of objects to the body, objects which then almost become an inseparable part of the individual itself.

One way that women in western culture often ‘add’ to themselves as individuals, is by expressing their personality and style through their hair – a particularly important part of the body as it is one of the few aspects of our natural physiology that we actually have the power to alter. There are as many different hairstyles as there are people on earth, and each is laden with it’s own meaning; worn one way, another, or not at all. These meanings are inescapably bound up to our personal identity and the way that we define ourselves. Most importantly hair is something through which a woman can enhance and express her femininity.

This series of works investigates what happens when a woman looses her hair – one of her primary outlets for defining herself as a female, and what importance prostheses can take on for these individuals. Is there a change in the way that sufferers relate to themselves, and to these new objects now that certain choices have been removed?

Rebecca explores these ideas by using images of feminine beauty as points of departure from where she can delve into zones of feeling, as well as colour, texture, and surface. She works with oils and other media, exploring paint through form and vice versa.