Siobahn Kaufman, a graduate of the Breda University of Applied Sciences and a resident of the Netherlands, is an emerging painter known for her Dark Surreal Self Portraits and her focus on body horror. Many of her self-portraits characterize the female body as monstrous, covered in blood and teeth, limbs torn to shreds. Aside from my love of horror, what draws me to her artwork is her unwillingness to shy away from the truth of the human body. For centuries, much of the art world has focused on female beauty and grace, separating femininity from the messy reality of having a body. In my opinion, the horror genre has done the best job of depicting women as real, fallible people. In these depictions, they are allowed to be “gross” and thereby free of the male gaze. However, Kaufman’s work goes beyond where media in this genre often falls short. The woman in her paintings is disgusting but beautiful, perhaps a victim but also a survivor. In this naked display of blood and gore, I feel seen as a woman and human.

One of Kaufman’s paintings that stood out to me is called Blind Eye. In this painting, a woman covered in bite marks has a hand over her mouth to silence her, her own hands covering her eyes with blind eyes protruding from the palms, and another pair of hands reaching past her ears. An additional hand grips her breast with bruising force. To me, the woman represents a survivor of sexual violence and the limbs shielding her senses are the culture of shame and silence she has been forced into. The hands covering her mouth and eyes, and the arms over her ears are also reminiscent of the adage ‘hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil’. Perhaps this alludes to someone, or society, silencing her. However, the additional limbs look like they belong to her, as they have the same tattoos as her. This may represents her living in denial about what happened. If she doesn’t hear or speak about it and remains blind to the assault, maybe she never has to face what happened. 

Unfortunately, many survivors of sexual violence are silent about their experiences, either due to societal pressure, further threat from the assailent, or believing it was their fault. For others, it may seem easier to not talk about the assault and try to move on. However, body trauma can live within you for years if you do not address it in some form or another. 

Additional details in the painting allude to themes about society’s unwillingness to persecute offenders of gender based violence. The woman in the painting is bathed in light while the bodies of those silencing and harming her fade into a black background, leaving her pain and wounds to be a spectacle for the public. On the news, we often hear about acts of gender based violence or sexual violence. However, it is rare that we see the offenders properly persecuted for their actions. Instead, survivors are dragged through televised courtroom appeals, their horrifying experiences turned into true crime episodes and their wounds held open for the world to see. As a society, we must focus on the survivors and the support they need. One way we can do this is by building a culture within the criminal justice system where survivors can discuss their experiences without being ridiculed. Similarly, this painting may also speak to the glorification of women’s pain often seen in the horror genre. Many horror movies rely on graphic violence against women for shock value or to boost ratings. They also rely on the “Final Girl” trope, in which one woman outlasts her friend group and defeats the killer, usually being seriously injured in the process. In the painting, the woman’s wounds are prominent and nauseating, her body still under attack, yet she stands tall, not disappearing into the darkness with her assailants.

Contributing Author: Sophie Wagner

To visit Siobhan Kaufman’s website, click this link.

Check out her artist Instagram page here.

Feature + Body Image Credit: Blind Eye by Siobhan Kaufman (via Instagram)