Aline Allies, known as Enila, is exhibiting her series “Representations” during the month of April at the Maison de Ma Région in Carcassonne. This exhibition reflects and questions the stereotypes of women “from yesterday and today” through well-known characters from the public.
During the month of April, the new exhibition “Representations” is open to the public at the Maison de Ma Région in Carcassonne. A series of works created by Enila, real name Aline Allies, highlighting the stereotypes associated with women “from yesterday and today” through paintings composed of famous characters and current or past newspapers. “I take things that exist or have existed, to make visitors think,” she says.
Since a young age, Aline Allies has been passionate about drawing and pop culture, which she studied at the Fine Arts. Finding it “complicated to live off an exhibition,” she works in the field of communication in parallel.
With her exhibition, she wanted to recreate something with iconic characters “that everyone knows.” The artist collects magazines from the 1900s to today, with which she creates collages, adding a touch of paint to the characters. Among the thirty or so exhibited works, there are paintings but also objects, including a mirror referring to reflection complexes.
The headline of the exhibition features Wonder Woman. A painting illustrating “a strong and independent woman” making her “lasso a symbol of truth.” She is surrounded by injunction phrases that women may face in their daily lives: “Be beautiful and shut up. Perfect body. A cook…” Other areas such as sports, math, food, appearance, and even cars, referencing the famous sexist phrase “Woman behind the wheel, danger ahead,” are explored.
Through this series, Aline has noticed the evolution of society on gender roles. She noticed, on a brand of household appliances to which she dedicates a Playmobil covered in advertisements, that “they had a mascot of a woman and her daughter where the mother taught the child to be a good housewife at that time.”
The artist explains that she “thinks about the representation of men.” “They also have a lot on their minds, they are often forgotten.” She plans to create a mixed exhibition in the future.
