Anys Reimann BLUESTOCKING I BLAUSTRUMPF, 2023

BLUESTOCKING I BLAUSTRUMPF is a mixed media work consisting of collage elements and oil paint on canvas.

It depicts a seated woman with her legs crossed. Her right arm is above her head and a green apple has fallen from her left hand. She is wearing blue tights, as revealed in the title, and her pose is somewhere between seductive and protective.

The subject is composed of various elements that are brought together in a collage, which is a core element of Reimann's practice, who explores her identity as an Afro-European woman through this medium. Her figures usually consist of different body features of women from different background, often in defiant sensual poses. In this particular case, Reimann has added the symbolism of the unbitten apple and the blue stockings. The unbitten apple refers to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, and Reimann’s desire to portray a woman unfettered by society’s prejudices and expectations of her and her sexuality. The blue stockings refer to a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originating from the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society led by Elizabeth Montagu in England.