Faces Of a Woman Exhibition: Marie-Louise Koen

WORDS Amelia Brown

Marie-Louise Koen’s first solo show entitled Faces of a Woman is on at a pop-up gallery at Latitude33, 165 Bree Street, Cape Town.

The collection, entitled Faces of a Woman, is a series of portraits exploring the facial expressions of women.

The interior designer, artist and founder of Ilounique by MLK hails from Cape Town and is now based between New York and London. She’s been living and working in the Big Apple for the past three years and has returned to SA to work on the exhibition, which runs until 10 March 2017 before heading to London.

The bold series of portraits on canvas explores the facial expressions of women. “This collection is an expression of my own deeply felt emotions and memories,” explains Marie-Louise. Recalling moments from her past and stages of development of her womanhood across two continents, she used the faces of female subjects to depict memories and their associated emotions – “some that are, at times, too difficult to express physically or feel emotionally, and others that are too hard to hide,” she says.

Asked what she misses most about South Africa, she says it’s the people. “Our diversity allows us to be surrounded by so much culture. It’s an incredible inspiration for my design. We’re a colourful bunch of people and I don’t mean that simply in its literal sense, but more figuratively – it’s wonderful and inspiring.”

So what’s next for Marie-Louise? “I’m working on incorporating my art into my interior and design work. I love how art can be so diverse and interchangeable between mediums. A painting can be a platform for so many other forms of art,” she says. “I intend on exploring textiles, prints and product design.”

Visit Marie-Louise’s site llounique.com to stay up to date with her projects, or follow her on Instagram.