Devotion of Penelope 2021

Curator: The somberness is immediate, isn’t it? Even with that little splash of crimson from the boat in the distance, there’s an overall melancholic feel… it’s quite gripping. Editor: It is, isn’t it? We’re looking at "Devotion of Penelope," created in 2021 with oil paints by Michael Cheval. It's fascinating how he weaves realism with overt surrealist elements. The textures of the stone where she sits, the dog’s fur, they’re almost hyper-real. Curator: I'm utterly captivated by the woman herself, so gracefully perched on what feels like the edge of the world. But it is a precarious devotion, I can imagine the long stretches where she feels more like she is waiting for the void to reciprocate something that might never come. Do you notice the faces emerging from the back of her head? A surreal premonition. Editor: Those faces are haunting! They give the portrait such psychological depth, I immediately thought about the internalized grief of displacement in the context of women whose labor or even their physical presence is erased within political narratives. How their individual pain can fuel historical or symbolic movements for independence. Curator: Hmmm, a painful movement. But what I adore is Cheval's playful bending of perspective, right? How the woman’s flowing gown melds seamlessly with the waves of the sea—as if she’s half woman, half ocean. Or that the red sail looks like a drop of blood... A striking commentary. Editor: It is, but let's not forget that a woman's body becomes territory in conflicts when they are reduced to the roles they have historically been prescribed to. Cheval’s blurring is seductive, but should be observed carefully with criticality, do you agree? Curator: Absolutely. It’s that blurring of lines, though, isn’t it, that pushes it past realism and plunges us into something far more resonant. Cheval seems to be saying something quite profound, actually...it’s about that constant balancing act. A woman's endurance in holding grief, hope and a grounded body on a territory. And now the task of trying to hold those complexities… that is the truest devotion of all. Editor: Indeed. It prompts a profound questioning of inherited traumas versus embodied legacies, which are always layered and intersectional. The visual tension between fantasy and reality within the woman makes you realize the necessity to re-evaluate devotion as not simply patience but a constant re-interpretation of resistance and strength through all identities.