The story told through Lucie Bennett’s women is as nuanced and elegantly curvilinear as real life. Finding their way onto the art scene in London at the beginning of the millennium, her characters have over the years slowly matured from young strong-willed twenty-somethings to refined independent women relying on the comfort of the life experience that a decade or two provides; perhaps the inevitable outcome of time passing - as experienced by the artist herself. Evolving from the conversation about the roles in society, these females come from the same ideological place; a place that challenges the depiction of women portrayed time and again in the mainstream media.

The thoughtful and intentional seduction of the viewer by Bennett’s subjects are not an acceptance of a status quo but a capitulation of her desire to address the sometimes passive and submissive imagery of women in the public space. On the contrary, Bennett turns the table and plays right into the hands of the viewer using a superior communicative strategy by working from a position of strength, rather than weakness. Shifting the postures, her silhouette sisters possess energy, a zesty passion, sometimes mythical powers - and compassion and beauty. Each of them a strong role model owning qualities everyone should aspire to, regardless of gender.

In the series of works from 2005, Bennett shows the females as spirits or ‘sprites’ - an elf or fairy-like creature known to have magical and fabled superpowers. Going back to Ancient Greek mythology, these ethereal beings were protectors of water and natural habitats, and purposefully tempting and playing tricks with people to reach their objective. As such, the three works are an ode, or lyric poem, to the powers inherited through legends as well as to the natural vigour of the female.

The young woman in Thundercloud sits centre-stage holding the viewer with a captivating and levelling stare. Her silvery sprite-wings are glistening from misty rain or dew, complimented by the colourful flowers in a palette of cherry-blossom pinks and aqua greens. Behind her, a darkening stormy sky intensifies her wilful appearance, blowing life into her hair giving it a strength of its own. This is a strong and feminine girl - full of creative power and enthusiasm - claiming her place in the world.

Whereas Thundercloud seems to show a young woman, Eve I and Eve II appear more mythical and womanly. Known as the temptress from the Bible, Bennett uses the title to reference Eve as a controversial figure, but the two women are not the accidental femme fatales roaming around in paradise. They are like sirens of the oceans relying on their wiles; singing irresistible songs from the rocks rising above the rough waters on the shoreline, enticing sailors too close to land and with unavoidable disaster. The perfectly shaped female bodies are covered only by long wavy tresses of hair which move about them, with flower petals - like fig leaves - concealing parts of the body which through history somehow became too sinful to show. Resilient in spirit and immortal, Eve I and Eve II are other-worldly and floating, existing beyond mankind.

Bennett’s female drawings, including Eve I and Eve II, appear to conform to present-day moral beliefs - and interestingly, it is by barely covering them up that the artist treads a thin line bordering formalism; showing provocative females and thus encouraging the stereotypic view.

The conversation about identity is one Bennett has visually discussed for several years - and following her work closely it is clear that the women in her early works, like Thundercloud, are more argumentative and feistier, compared to her most recent works which use the female bottom as a cheeky motif. Regardless of subject matter, all her works portraying female silhouettes circle around an ever-present and important theme, commentating to some degree - though gracefully - on objectification.

Thundercloud, Eve I and Eve II were released in 2005 and stand out among some of Lucie Bennett’s early print editions in her recognisable minimalist line-drawing; Thundercloud with the hand-applied silver leaf to enhance the fairy wings, and Eve I and Eve II being two of the first multi-layered screenprints. The editions of 95 each are signed, titled and numbered on the front.

You can find more information about the three screenprint editions and see other available artworks by Lucie Bennett on her artist page here.