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Marie Hego

BABADO
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"Babado," in Brazilian Portuguese, describes an unusual and attractive attitude, something vanguard and at the same time a bit freaky.

The term originated in the Queer scene and is now frequently used by everyone. My BABADOs are animal head sculptures with piercings, grillz, and gold teeth. They are the result of two distant universes clashing within me. Both shine at the margins: the alternative community and Carnival.

The BABADO Project explores the relationship between urban contemporary humanity and animal subjectivity. Through sculpture, performance, and paste up street art, I propose projections of the animal figure and investigate the symbologies of nature in today’s urban societies and collective unconscious. Using photographs of my friends posing with the BABADOs, I create posters, which I’ve collaboratively displayed on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, and Cincinnati.

I’ve worked as a sculptor on Carnival floats since my arrival in Brazil in 2018. My artwork and the BABADO Project were developed in Rio de Janeiro.

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"Carpa Surfistinha" (2021) by Marie Hego
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"Atlantis" (2021) by Marie Hego via Arlo's Art Therapy Journal

Audrey Williams

Self-Portrait of a Trichotillomaniac
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I create portraits of the mundane, the ugly, and the boring in order to celebrate and memorialize them—to undo some of the damage done to young people in an anxiety-ridden, information-saturated world.

My inspiration is often drawn from body dysmorphia. My own trichotillomania and OCD highlight imperfections. I explore these flaws and combine them with the mass media and society’s expectations of beauty, which young women must face daily. The supersized scale of my portraits amplify pores, cuts, bruises, and asymmetry. This is not an attempt to find beauty in ugliness, but to celebrate ugliness and imperfection as their own truth.

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"Self-Portrait of a Trichotillomaniac" by Audrey Williams via The Gallery, "Mujer Manifesto" (vol. 1)

My portraits’ exploration of meticularity and nitpicking of single features encourages viewers to let go of some of their own self-consciousness. As a young woman who produces realistic representations of the human form, I’m compelled to create an alternative to the mainstream images we are force-fed through popular media.


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Born in Paris, Marie (she/her) is a French artist now based in Rio de Janeiro. She holds degrees in fine arts from the University of Paris 1—La Sorbonne and art from Urban Space at La Cambre in Brussels. She previously served as an assistant in a moulding studio and restorer in Paris. Marie works as a sculptor on the floats of the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro. Instagram @maskbabado | mariehego.com
"Atlantis" previously appeared in Arlo's Art Therapy Journal, in collaboration with Dazed and Converse and in support of CALM.
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Audrey (she/her) is an oil painter from Dallas, Texas. Her work explores unseen trauma and sheds light on alternate forms of beauty that contradict societal standards. Audrey is an MS in counseling candidate at Southern Methodist University and holds a BFA in studio art from the University of Texas at Austin. She teaches at the Creative Arts Center Dallas. Instagram @audreyxine
"Self-Portrait of a Trichotillomaniac" previously appeared in The Gallery's "Mujer Manifesto" (vol. 1).
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MASKS Literary Magazine is sponsored by the Columbia College Chicago Library and was founded as part of the Aesthetics of Research Program-an ongoing series of exhibits, events, and other shenanigans dedicated to exploring the role that libraries play in artistic process, creative community building, and resource-sharing in the arts. 
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. IMAGES ARE PRESENTED FOR USE AS FINE ART. PURCHASE OF ART DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A LICENSE FOR COMMERCIAL USE. ALL ART, PHOTOS, AND PRINTS WILL STILL CARRY COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS, AND PHOTOCOPYING, SCANNING, AND REUSE ARE PROHIBITED WITHOUT PRIOR CONSENT OF THE ARTIST.
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  • Featured
  • Issue
  • Interviews
    • Melissa Meier
    • Miya Turnbull
    • Kate Wisel
  • Submissions
    • Guidelines
    • Contests
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Masthead