“I feel that my paintings are about confrontation, power, and control,” says Sofia Mitsola, who graduated from the Slade’s MFA course in 2018. Her acid-bright, unashamed, giant painting of a woman “hiding and revealing the genitals” is a prime example of this dynamic, and the tension many women feel on a daily basis between self-possessed sexuality and conforming to the association of femininity with modesty. Resting her athletic body, legs open, toes tipped in the water, Siren “is staring at the viewer and in a way inviting him or her to participate in the game.” Mitsola’s work will appear at Jerwood Visual Arts, London, this week, in her debut solo exhibition.
