ABOUT

Isabella Theys (1974), lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. Theys believes in being loud where others are silent, on topics and figures that are (kept) invisible. In her subversive fairytales, she mainly paints figures who question themselves and their environment by challenging ageism, flawless appearance and stereotypical gender roles.

The settings that surround the protagonists are witness to the socially compelling ideal. Theys wishes to undermine social conventions with subdued humor. She creates a new narrative in an attempt to escape her own mortality through an unspoken transmission of underrepresented voices.

Theys knows how to perfectly capture the contradictions in people’s lives, and the subverting fantasy expectations of female roles, without losing herself to feminist clichés.

Through irony and social commentary, together with the complex feelings evoked by her work, she looks to depict a 'tipping point' in which rebellion, a breakdown or a decadent splurge are lurking around the corner. On the horizon lures the call for a free-er life, which, cannot however be lived without destroying the old patterns.