Frida Wannerberger

Frida Wannerberger’s art is all about power. Audiences have sometimes described her puffy-sleeved girls as ‘angels’ or ‘dolls’, but Frida would object to such characterisation. Indeed, this would imply a sort of passivity or submission, suggested by the youthful looks of her ethereal heroines. Instead, the titles given to the paintings testify that they are alive with inner thoughts of their own.

In her art, the little girl and the grown woman coincide as one. This raises a fundamental theme that connects the artworks to a sense of universality: what are the infinite possibilities that erupt from adopting, or rejecting, the codes that have defined femininity? In many ways, Frida actively challenges what it means to be a woman by transforming the body into both a vehicle for the communication of such ideas and a tool that can allow us to make these statements.

As the artist invites us to interpret her work as we please, we can equally wonder what the girls portrayed would say about themselves. This playfulness reveals Frida’s mastering of the art of storytelling: the artist’s own life is the most influential source of vision, turning her paintings into biographical tales of navigating feelings around identity and agency.