"From my point of view, the human face is the only part of the body that gives us the fundamental knowledge of a person, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. Portrait paintings can reveal the sitter’s place in society, their identity, gender, hobbies, occupation, or aspects of their personality or beliefs.
I am eager to show the spectrum of beauty, softness and harshness, and masculine and feminine. Thus, in this new series, I called it ‘‘Between’’. I paint the LGBTQ community, with oil colors on small canvases to show intimacy to people. I invited the audience to come closer to the portraits to see them more meticulously and discover all the details and textures. This gesture encourages the viewer to engage with the portraits.
I believe In these portraits, I draw the pain, the mental damage, the family concerns, the cultural, social, and political issues that they have dealt with.
Why Between? Because I believe there is always a spectrum between the two poles; poles that are at times contradictory and others complementary, and at the same time, they are turbulent and sometimes unexplored." - Masha Merci, 2020