Born in 1971 in Baudour (BE)
Sara Conti is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Plastiques et Visuels in Mons (Arts²). First dedicating herself to rock music, and passionate about comic strips, she evolved towards graphic design in the early 1990s, opting for vector drawing printed on paper and stuck on street walls. Fascinated by Russian dolls since her mother took her to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg, Sara Conti depicts matryoshkas which she sticks here, there and everywhere in towns in Belgium and Europe. Referred to as the ‘Vénus de Willendorf du 21ème siècle’ by the artist herself, her matryoshka unashamedly shows off her female attributes (vulva, voluptuous breasts, full mouth). Through her stature and her generous body, often carrying a child in her womb, she also represents a mother and a great reproducer. Of Italian origin and brought up as a Catholic, Sara Conti often refers to the Old and the New Testament (both consciously and subconsciously). But, above all, the artist’s doll is an ode to women and femininity. Accompanied by symbolic animals, historical references and folkloric images, she contains the anxieties and desires of her creator and she gently and humorously delivers a message on women, society and the world around her.
