iOnArt feat. QM&A

Sophie Esslinger, Maria Belova, Philipp Netolitzky and Linda Zahra 

A Lotus Charity (meanwhile the association is called „ARTCANHELP“) event led to the walls opposite the EGA Women’s Centre in Windmühlgasse (Vienna) being designed by artists from all over the world in cooperation with QM&A. The main theme for the murals on the walls was „Empower Women“.

Janinski, acrylic and marker / Photo: iOnArt

Although Austria was not the first European country to introduce the right to vote for women, it was one of the pioneers. The discussion about women’s right to vote was sparked off by the Civil Revolution of 1848, in which the proletariat generally demanded more rights. However, this did not yet necessarily involve political rights; these were increasingly demanded from the 1880s onwards.

Sophie Esslinger, acrylic / Photo: iOnArt

Linda Zahra, paste up / Photo: iOnArt

Linda Zahra depicts a screaming woman in her mural. It is meant to show how often women scream in secret, sometimes even only in dreams. Through the platform that iOnArt provided, she wants to give relevance to these cries for help in daily life. For her, the acknowledgement of sexual violence and the desire to hold people accountable for it is essential. In this context, broken trust can only be reconstructed through new trust. Style wise, she  chose pasting up a picture. It seems like works from the Beglian artist JR.

ANiS, spray paint / Photo: iOnArt

Another artist that was featured in this project was ANiS * Jocelyn Aracena. The Chilean muralist and painter painted was working on a couple of projects during her stay in Vienna, including this mural for Lotus Charity (ARTCANHELP).

The piece of Nenesurreal is done just with spray paint. It shows a black woman and all the influences of her, partly still, suppressed culture. For her, the symbol of oppression is combing or straightening her hair. You can see a colourful woman (poc) who should be self confident and embrace her hair structure.

Nenesurreal, spray paint / Photo: iOnArt

The ornaments Darja Shatalova drew on her wall is based on the tiles or mosaics in Greek temples, which have a big correspondence to her mathematical approach in life. The connection to the topic „women“ is established by the idea, that she doesn’t see these drawings as „her art“ but it could be denounced as the „decorative art“ by a random female artist.

Darja Shatalova, spray paint and marker / Photo: iOnArt

Anja Grohmann, acrylic / Photo: iOnArt

Illustrator Anja Grohmann painted her first mural on this day. She really enjoyed doing this and is excited to more murals. In her piece she portrays flowers growing out of panties, surrounded by blue, green and yellow spaces with the words „grow and bloom“, which can be understood in many ways. The obvious meaning is for a girl to grow up and unfold her whole potential.