Lilian Martinez - Coral Caves

In this series of works, Lilian blends representation and iconographies of the past with the present and imagined future to make an empowering statement about the roles and position of brown women in modern society. The art world is finally starting to recognise that women, especially women of colour, were systematically overlooked by traditional art history, or were presented as sexualised objects of contemplation in the eye of the (presumably male) viewer.

In the works of Lilian, brown women are portrayed in new types of compositions that are pure, peaceful and even humorous at times. These liberating and joyful images of previously underrepresented bodies comfortably occupying space, offer a fresh and inclusive interpretation to ideas of privilege and cultural narrative.

A southern Californian aesthetic is evident in all the works included in Coral Caves. Lilian typically uses sun-washed colours that still have a softness to them, and which naturally surround the artist in her studio in Yucca Valley, California. Just like colours, spatial balance is also highly significant to the artist’s visual language. Her flat figures are surrounded by interiors and objects acting as beautiful micro-architectural compositions, referencing 1990’s pop culture, as well as modernists like Henri Matisse and Henry Moore.