Heather Benjamin, Heart Fire, 2023
Acrylic, flashe, gouache on canvas
38 × 32 × 1 inches
The woman sits in an alien desert landscape populated by psychedelic blue and turquoise flowers. An electric storm rages in the vermillion sky. She is gazing at herself in a shattered mirror. The mirror shards explode into the atmosphere as a gust of wind blows off her hat and she reaches to retrieve it. The painting deals with ideas around vanity, body dysmorphia, and confronting the perception of self.