Certificate of Authenticity

During the opera, the performer uses intensity, drama, and exaggeration of expressions to convey an emotion. Despite the fact that they may be acting in the moment, they draw on their real emotions and amplify them, or let loose what is truly inside. In my experience as a woman, I’ve felt the urge and the frustration of needing to perform to be heard. Similarly, tattoos are something to help people feel heard, or to themselves. Tattoos have always intrigued me in how they freeze a fleeting perception/ relationship towards a certain concept that can similarly be readily drawn on or expressed at any moment like acting. When I came across Reka Nyari’s book ‘Ink Stories’ which focuses on women's bodies and their tattoos, I was inclined to paint one of her photographs.