As hinted at in the exhibition title, Axell engages
with both contemporary stereotypes of femininity as well as centuries old role ascriptions and correctively intervenes in persistent gender relations: reflecting on art history — such as Venus iconography, Leda
with the Swan depictions and distinguished portraits like Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa — she subverts historically sedimented, male
perceptions of femininity and renegotiates the socially constructed image of women as either «
angel in the house» or femme - fatale.
Hearing this, I imagine Fernández, a contemporary artist who has long been concerned
with American landscape,
with the visual
perception and conceptual concoction of the putatively natural world, grappling like Jacob grappled
with the
angel all night and through to dawn.