Nina Surel’s art speaks about the life of womanhood and its perception. It is a search for identity and she expresses vulnerability and strength, both at the same time. Her body of work encompasses aesthetic beauty with a whimsical touch.
Young girls or teenagers are dressed in old fashioned clothes made of applied precious jewels and sea shells. Some of the girls are hugging animals such as turtles or bunny’s. Other are holding fish or sea horses from a string as trophies symbolizing prosperity and fertility. Sometimes the girl is holding a rabbit or a house against her chest, as not to loose it, indicating the fragility of life and time: “Girl with Sea Turtle”, “Handle with care” and “Home of the Brave”.
As in “La Peregrina”, “Lady with Crab” has a saintly aura. Both are the same image of a young woman, Surel herself?. Girls in proper attire, woman in long dresses and sleeves identify the naivety of the gender. It is also the interpretation that women are old fashion in tradition and intimacy. The shells and crustaceous can also be translated as “hard as shell” meaning the powerful strength of women and the rejection of bad influences. The new woman also reflects a rejection to vulnerability through the crustaceous hard shells and the shiny metal.
Women represented as precious jewels that deceive the eye. Nevertheless, the feeling of an ornamental look in a decorative work is seen at first glance. If it is examined closely, the precious inner soul of the female body and psyche is found.
Isabel Block
Buenos Aires, Argentina February 2009