Monday, January 28, 2019

Mini Post: Sarah Levy

Sarah Levy was born in Portland, Oregon in 1989. She has a bachelor’s degree in History and originally planned on becoming a journalist after completing her degree. After her mother passed away, Levy used drawing as a coping mechanism for her loss. Sarah Levy is currently attending New York Academy of Art, where she is expected to graduate in 2020 with a degree in Drawing.

Most of Levy’s work consists of portraits, especially people who are ignored or silenced. By drawing or painting these people, she highlights global issues and human rights. She is an activist, who uses art as her platform to shed light on different social issues. Levy wants to show the beauty of other people in her art and show their true emotions. Essentially, Sarah Levy wants people to look at these portraits and gain a new perspective. She hopes that viewers can understand the people better by looking at their portrait and find something in common with that individual.

She is well known for the portrait of Donald Trump in 2015 (titled “Whatever”). This painting went viral and received lots of attention because of the medium she used to create this portrait. Levy used her own menstrual blood to paint a portrait of Trump. This portrait took both a political and social stand. She used her menstrual blood because she wanted to empower women and let women know that this is natural. In many different cultures, menstruation is something that is not talked about openly. Some females feel ashamed or embarrassed to talk about their periods. Once Levy heard the remarks Trump made about Megyn Kelly, she stood up for her by creating this portrait. Sarah Levy wanted to address misogyny and how many men in power still disrespect and look down on women. Some people associate menstruation with “weakness” or “impurity” and I think Levy wants women to embrace their periods. Women are constantly judged (their bodies and reproductive system). I think Levy wants people to respect women and understand the negativity and hardships women face.



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