Stephanie Jade Art
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VILLAINS
Villains is a participatory art project looking at how women are villainised by society and the people around them.
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Hello, I'm Stephanie, the artist behind Villains.
Villains began as a series of portraits exploring the women we've been taught to fear, ridicule or dismiss. Women labelled too much, too emotional, too ambitious, too loud, too difficult.
I started by painting public figures.
Then something unexpected happened.
Women began writing to me.
They shared stories of the words that had been used against them, the moments that had shaped them, and the labels they were still carrying years later. The project became something much bigger than I had imagined.
Today, Villains is a collaborative art project. With each participant's permission, I transform their story into a portrait before physically altering the painting as an act of reclamation. The marks, scratches and interventions become part of the work, reflecting the experiences that shaped them while refusing to let those experiences have the final word.
Every portrait is a conversation about judgement, resilience and who gets to define us.
If you've ever been made to feel like the villain in your own story, perhaps this project is for you.
