Headlines & Deadlines 4

Monika Zeringue Illustrations

http://monicazeringue.com/home.html

Monika Zeringue draws nude self-portraits in several mythic guises and her illustrations seek dreamlike pastimes. She appears on her enigmatic, surreal and sensual drawings sometimes representing an Asian deity, or on all fours in a lion’s skin like Hercules. Mythology is a common reference on her intriguing work, where she condenses and explores what we are inside.

“My drawings are all self-portraits. I use images of myself, often reduced to a pre-pubescent form, in multiples. The girls exist in a world devoid of any reference to time or location, as in a partially recalled dream or memory. I am exploring identity, as I return myself back to a time of possibility: still innocent, but at the brink of change. But, as in the workings of memory, where time is compressed, stretched out, folded over and rearranged, these girls shift between pre-pubescent and fully mature, sometimes in the same work. They split apart, merge, and rearrange, creating sensual structures, of sorts, which sometimes give “birth” to more girls. These drawings are about becoming something new, different. The almost patterned repetition of poses emphasizes stagnancy, or a sort of glitch in time. Movement is suggested, but never seems to occur. Yet their hair keeps growing, weaving around them, binding and overpowering them, becoming something new on its own. I also use embroidery directly on the drawing as a visual and metaphorical element.” Monika Zeringue.