Sisterhood Paintings by Leá Augereau: Centring Intersectional Feminism in Representations of Femme Bonds

French painter Léa Augereau has consistently created figurative paintings that depict intersectional femme sisterhoods. Augereau has stated that she has decided to do so because aside from being a feminist, she wants to also emphasize that she is a "humanist". To her, this means that aside from gender, inequality between human beings is further afflicted by other parts of a person’s identity, such as race, religion and more. These values are recognized academically as intersectional feminism; values that Augereau has depicted repeatedly in her paintings by portraying femme people from diverse backgrounds. This is why the sisterhood paintings by Leá Augereau are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities.

In her depictions of these diverse groups, Augereau always ensures to include authentic facial and bodily features that would be associated with their backgrounds. This means her paintings also help to challenge the Western and White centric beauty standards that exist worldwide. That aside, she always depicts these femmes relaxing and enjoying each other’s company, lounging together and chatting. Here, Augereau is highlighting another form of femme resistance: leisure.

Femme leisure is an act of political resistance. As statistics have shown, another way a patriarchal society has disadvantaged femme people is by snatching away their free time.

For example, gender roles often pressure cis women into doing household chores and child rearing, on top of their own efforts to pursue a career and make a living. Heteronormative societal structures affect trans women and queer femmes as well, by making them work twice as hard. These structures ensure that they must fight for basic necessities and fundamental rights, fashioning moments of rest, leisure and joy as luxuries. Therefore, the act of actively rejecting unpaid labour to intentionally relax with their fellow femme friends is a form of political resistance.

Influenced by painters such as Frida Kayla and David Hockney, Augereau’s paintings appear almost flat. Her figures are constructed of simple lines and blocks of solid colours. Her painting style grounds the messages embedded in them. Despite the elements of realism in them, viewers are immediately able to recognize the works as fiction—an idealized world where intersectional femme groups can relax together. Augereau’s paintings underscore her desire to rally up femmes across the world to come together, support one another and make these paintings a tangible reality.

Find out more about the sisterhood paintings and other initiatives by Léa Augereau on her website www.leaaugereau.bigcartel.com or Instagram @lea_augereau.