Snow Goose 

Curator: Oh, my. This portrait by Troy Brooks, it's like stepping into a forgotten dream. "Snow Goose", it practically breathes a perfumed melancholy, doesn’t it? Editor: Indeed. The entire composition seems steeped in artifice. A romantic tableau perhaps critiquing constructed ideals of femininity, vulnerability and also control, given the delicate mask obscuring her gaze. Curator: Exactly! It’s unsettlingly beautiful. Look at the thorny rose collar, and the contrast with the almost saccharine pink palette... It’s beauty and danger coexisting. Those little bees flitting about seem to be warning her not to grasp too tightly onto any illusions. I am immediately reminded of those gothic fairytales, where beauty conceals sharp truths, like those Brothers Grimm adaptations… a subtle comment about constraints faced by women perhaps? Editor: Definitely. Brooks consistently works with themes of enforced beauty standards. Note the ghostly paleness, the slightly synthetic appearance overall – almost an android of femininity. The artist positions her as a figure molded and contained by expectations. A Snow Goose confined. The roses too might represent the idealized domestic role thrust on to them with potentially painful consequences – the thorns scratching their way in. Curator: Absolutely, it all feels meticulously staged. Even the gloss on those full dark lips reads as performative. It's captivating, in the way something forbidden often is... almost an exquisite sorrow seeping out of the painting. I am mesmerized by that feeling of her sadness being very beautifully constructed. Editor: The choice to position the rose thorns so tightly around her throat seems pertinent here, acting as an almost direct analogy of beauty standards being harmful. We must be critical when observing work like this. The work invites us to analyze how patriarchal expectations and superficial social values can become tools of female oppression, physically embodying constriction in the neck and face through harsh roses. Curator: I agree, yes... it's a disturbing portrayal that prompts reflection on artificial beauty and hidden sadness... I think its message is clear... I love the work's ambiguous quality overall. Editor: Agreed. A worthwhile exploration of uncomfortable ideas on identity and imposed societal expectations.