In her series "We Didn't Come Here to Be Pretty", Charlotta Jansen paints women from different periods in history, amplifying the raw humanity behind the façade of 'pretty' that the original photographs captured. The work conveys the resilience that is required by women to withstand society's expectations of femininity. The gritty expressions and strong eyes behind the women's faces convey virility. They are symbols of perseverance and victory over marginalization.
WE DIDN’T COME HERE TO BE PRETTY
Das Geld Kommt Nicht Vom Ficken [ The Money Doesn't Come From Fucking ] (From a photo taken by Sven Goerlich 2012)
I wanted to depict my two really close friends from Berlin and myself in a series of tableaus. I always loved that Silke's business card says: the money doesn't come from fucking. I realize in retrospect that we all needed that on our business cards.
48" ×54" (Diptych), 2018
ARTIST STATEMENT
It Started Long Ago.
We didn’t come here to be pretty, however, we women all feel pushed by society to transform into objects of desire until we realize we didn’t come here to be pretty. At that moment our guard drops and reveals inner feelings of frustration, strength, anger, resignation, and so many other emotions I intend to capture for this show’s paintings.
It Started Long Ago and for me it was recently triggered again by Olive Jane Goodin's portrait from 1910. I have been dying to paint Olive since her great-granddaughter dropped off a photo taken in 1910 in Jamaica to me. I was told that the young woman wearing a heavy manly coat and a giant garish bow didn't want to come to the States and I sought to convey her strikingly unsmiling resentment. Once finished I felt a deep ache to paint more women in this vein. As I researched various old photo libraries (particularly the Farm Security Administration's Record of how America struggled through the Great Depression) I was struck by the seemingly never-ending struggle of fellow women against the constant system of marginalization. A lot of us are enablers, some of us gain from this battle, if only for for a minute, and some have been enabled by the fight: for we all have moments when we are done being pretty.
– Charlotta Janssen
