Following the successful completion, launch and state-wide exhibitions of her Permanent Impressions Project in 2013, which featured the portraits of 50 contemporary inspirational Western Australian women, selected for their strength of character and impact on the community, Perth based artist, Jana Vodesil-Baruffi has continued to seek and find her inspiration in the modern-day stories of the extraordinary lives of females around the world and their plight for freedom of expression, recognition and more often than not, basic human rights and dignity.
Chancing upon the book “Half the Sky”, written by talented journalists and human rights advocates Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl Dunn, Jana was moved by the stories of women, who despite having gone through incredible hardship, abuse and mistreatment, have managed to gather their inner strength and pieces of dignity and re-emerge as the heroines of their lives and their communities.
Drawing on these dramatic stories of human pain and triumph, darkness and light, despair and courage, ugliness and beauty, Jana has unleashed her fantasy and images of dignified women, beautiful in their honest nakedness and adorned with exotic birds, wrapped in their stories and environments and carrying whole cities on their backs, emerge from canvas. They all look directly back at the observer and exude pride with what they’ve done with their lot in life. In Jana’s own words, these series of fantastic realism portraits have been created in the hope of bringing attention to the modern day slavery and oppression of women and girls in the developing world. Part of the proceeds from the sales of these portraits and limited edition prints have been pledged to be donated to the charities supporting the re-establishment of abused women and girls into society and giving them a chance to reclaim their dignity and help others in their position.
Jana Vodesil-Baruffi is a WA-based fine artist, grown-up and schooled in the best traditions of Europe, whose realistic portraits, landscapes and fantastic realism works have won prestigious state and national competitions and sells both nationally and abroad. Her work can be divided into two categories: Portraits and Landscapes (paintings from her extensive travels) In 2016 Jana was featured in the TV series Colour in Your Life presented by Graeme Stevenson. She is also a founding member of the Contemporary Australian Surrealists movement in WA as well as a member of WA portrait group. Her amazing portrait titled “Black Swan” won Jana the most prestigious Western Australia award; “The Black Swan Prize for Portraiture“. In 2018, Jana was also a semi-finalist in the Dough Moran portraiture competition.
If you would like more information about the artist and explore works from these series or her other artistic projects, please visit her website: www.janavodesil.com
