I PAINT NOTSELF SERIES

I PAINT NOTSELF is a series of self-portraits that reinterprets iconic female figures from the history of Western art. Drawing from works by Manet, Leonardo da Vinci, Degas, and others, the artist steps into the frames of Olympia, Lady with an Ermine, or The Absinthe Drinker — not to mimic, but to inhabit.

These women were immortalized through the male gaze. But what happens when they are revisited in the 21st century from the position of a contemporary woman? Each painting becomes a moment of reclamation: the pose remains, but the perspective shifts. What once was a symbol becomes a subject.

The fox (a recurring, totemic animal in Rimma’s work) replaces the original animals in the source paintings. These foxes are not accessories but guides. They carry memory, ambiguity, and silent resistance.

This series is a layered conversation between presence, history, and self-making.