Laura Limbourg↓

About the work

Harrowing tale

In my fourth year of study, I travelled to Southeast Asia and visited countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines. The ubiquitous phenomenon of prostitution, especially that of young girls, had a jarring effect on me. I made various sketches and small pictures during said travels. After returning to the Czech Republic, I felt a strong obligation to educate myself on the issue. To draw attention to the topic and express my opposition to it - I’ve chosen painting as the output for my emotions.

What began to emerge were the stories and compositions of the aforementioned girls given unwelcome attention, depicted as fearless heroines or fragile girls. In my paintings, I have abandoned the notion of being too descriptive as I did not deem the young girls’ realistic depiction as imperative, instead I emphasized color and symbols. However, I minimized the usage of color in my diploma thesis as I wanted the sole focus to be the symbols and thus the story of the paintings itself. The thesis consists of three large format paintings (580x300 cm each) and several smaller accompanying ones. The pictures are further supported by a concrete installation (3x270 cm) in order to emphasize the frailty of the painting.