Deeply engaged with art and it’s power to connect us to stories and concepts greater than ourselves, Audra conceived of this collection of wearable miniature portraits to connect the viewer with the feminine gaze and to see it as something beautiful, strong, and engaged with creating the world around us. Set in antique jewelry pieces, these contemporary portraits are a modern reframing of the Lover’s Eye–a highly intimate historical form of portraiture–to inspire contemporary conversation about art history and how, and for whom, it is recorded.

By placing artist’s eyes at the center of this art form, an intimacy is created with these historical women artists that invites a conscious reconsideration of their marks on the world to highlight the importance of their perspectives to the project of filling in the gaps in the art historical narrative and canon.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOVER’S EYE

Originating as a token of amorous courtship, this highly intimate and personal miniature portrait tradition was briefly popular in England in the Georgian period before the invention of photography and brought into vogue again by Queen Victoria. The likenesses were intended to only be recognizable and of importance to the wearer–the eye often standing in for an unnamed clandestine or forbidden love, and possibly worn in a concealed place. Over time, the identities of the individuals and their importance was lost.