The Work of Adrienne DeVine

THE TRUE COST

BAILA member Adrienne DeVine’s mixed-media works challenge society’s beauty standards and the price women pay to attain them.

BY SARA SMOLA

mixed-media artist and Pasadena resident Adrienne DeVine’s provoking work Miss Propaganda offers intimate insight into attaining a mainstream white femininity that in reality is only accessible to a select, privileged few. The collage is depicted through a medley of materials including a brown paper bag, gauze, fabric, buttons, found wood fragments, magazine clippings, and acrylic paint.

“I created a beauty queen who, upon close inspection, reflects the harsh impacts of prevailing standards of beauty,” explains DeVine of the work. “Her face is bandaged from plastic surgery, her skin is blotched from bleaching creams that would enable her to pass the brown paper bag test, a girl can be seen having her hair chemically straightened. Swirling around Miss Propaganda’s head are images of broadcast journalists who were fired and an elementary school student who was expelled, all for wearing their natural, afro-textured hair.”

DeVine’s intention is that Miss Propaganda draws the viewer in from afar with her beauty but, upon closer look, offers an opportunity for reflection on how first appearances can be deceiving and challenges the age-old question: What is the true cost of beauty?

Miss Propaganda, privately owned/not for sale; adriennedevine.com