NAKED REVOLT

Anna Zorina Gallery is pleased to present Nadine Faraj’s debut solo exhibition in New York City. The exhibition will feature the artist’s latest series of watercolors Naked Revolt.

Women around the world are disrobing to declare their indignation. They protest in the streets with their demands and outcries emblazoned on their bare chests. Their bold tactics forcibly grab the attention of the media in order to have their urgent messages heard. Faraj captures the global scale of this protest method by depicting members of activist groups such as the BlackOUT Collective in San Francisco; FEMEN in France; Muslim feminists in the Middle East; students in Canada and South Africa; and Pro-Choice activists in Spain or Peru; amongst others. Through the range of causes, they share the use of nudity as a weapon in service of their specific struggle.

Faraj’s watercolor portraits are created using a wet technique that allows the pigments to bleed into unpredictable forms. The result is an image that is slightly distorted, sometimes savage, and always reflective of an individual’s fragility.

Accompanying the watercolors is a series of sculptures that, in a more abstract way, reflect the artist’s exploration of protest and sacred sexuality.

Nadine Faraj lives and works in New York and Montreal. She received an MFA from New York’s School of Visual Arts in 2015 and a BFA from Montréal's Concordia University in 2002. She studied life drawing and anatomy at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 2008. Her work has been included in numerous press articles including features in Wallpaper Magazine, Huffington Post, Arte Fuse and Vulture.
A full-color catalogue accompanies the exhibition.