Helena Cardow

Remorse

2023

Oil on canvas

40 x 50cm

Remorse is a contemporary oil portrait that examines the tension between vulnerability and control within the act of being seen. The sitter’s steady, confrontational gaze resists passive consumption, while the heightened palette, cool blues offset by saturated reds, amplifies the emotional charge of the composition.

Cropping and compositional restraint create a sense of psychological proximity, drawing attention to the face as both subject and constructed surface. As with much of my practice, the work interrogates the politics of looking, exploring how women’s bodies and expressions are framed within art history, and how agency can be reclaimed through directness and self-possession.