Annie Kevans

« My paintings reflect my interests in power, manipulation and the role of the individual in inherited belief systems. It is important for me to examine the duality of truth and falsehood throughout my work, which I do by creating 'portraits' which may or may not be based on real documentation.

The series ‘Boys’, in which dictators were depicted as children, looked at purity and corruption and, in particular, the notion of the 'Innocent Child'. The series ‘Girls’ looked at the continuing media-led sexualisation of childhood and raised questions about our collusion in the deification and commodification of female child stars, from Shirley Temple to Britney Spears. Whereas the boys had to make a name for themselves as Pol Pot or Hitler, the girls were found, sought out, and their image given to them. The process of self invention, innocence and culpability touches both series differently.

The title 'Swans', drawn from the name of an American TV series, was used to unite small groups of paintings which related to the American Dream.

Again focusing on the US, 'Vamps & Innocents' looked at the stereotyping of women in early films.

I hope that my images will raise questions about how and why a person, or group of persons, behaves in a certain way. As Foucault explained, a person’s identity is not preset – rather, it is determined by the interactions of a person with another and is, therefore, a shifting temporary construction. My work looks at ideas of personal responsibility within structures determined by time and place and the role of those who create those structures.» (Annie Kevans)

++Annie Kevans