ALEXANDRA AQUILINA (MT)
Text/Translation GHA
Self-styled “ScreenGirl”, the Maltese berlin-based artist Alexandra Aquilina is mainly inspired by pop culture, religious imagery and female icons.
During her Graphic Design studies at the Malta College of Arts she was introduced to screen printing. She further developed this technique in a self-taught way and now this is the most used one in her productions. Aquilina’s interest in fashion, which was professionalised early in her career, can be easily seen in her prints.
Cats, a frequent subject of her works, appear within an aura of mysticism dressed and adorned resembling idols and gods. Feminist iconography and Gen X nostalgia, as she claims, serve as the lens through which she addresses her creative process.
Some of her prints are clearly related to commercial art, although she also explores social issues based on her personal experience as a young woman growing up in a devoutly Catholic Mediterranean environment with a strong patriarchal structure.
The image of a divinized woman figure is quite recurring in the imagery she creates. Her work Not your Virgin. Not your whore is a clear example of this approach – the naked torso of a woman wearing a veil and whose head is surrounded by a halo appears stabbed. The vibrant red colour of the roses placed around her figure seems to serve as a metaphor for blood, and the whole powerful composition can be read as an allusion to the systematic violence exerted on the female body.
FRUTANA – HELU MANNA NOT YOUR VIRGIN NOT YOUR WHORE
