Working with the trope of the Harlequin as Trickster Whore, Berman examines the societal constructs of the female experience. She radicalises the historically female domain of portraiture. In painting herself, Berman refutes the male gaze and objectification of women. The figures are often defiant and Berman’s gentle muted aesthetic is fraught with contrapuntal layers, the canvas appears almost bruised; the visceral and corporeal juxtaposed with a delicacy and fluidity of line and movement. Berman’s work uses its very appeal to defy expectation: a violent transgression within beauty. Sara Berman (b. 1975) lives and works in London, She studied fashion BA at Central Saint Martins in the 1990s and worked in fashion before studying for
her MFA at Slade UCL, graduating in 2016.