Dinora Justice

Artist in Residence, Fall 2019

Currently living in Newton, MA, artist Dinora Justice was born in Brazil. The themes her work explores include the feminine, nature, and environmental destruction.

“I am a beneficiary of (Bunny Mellon’s) vision, and where my vision and hers come together is perhaps my belief that art can carry ideas and emotions far and wide, and inspire people,” said Dinora, in a statement she wrote at the end of her residency. 

The series of paintings Dinora is currently working on, which feature silhouettes of women influenced by nineteenth century “Odalisque” portraits reclining in natural settings, explores the exploitative ways that we relate to nature as a patriarchal society. Dinora spent much of her time at Oak Spring developing floral designs to use in those paintings, based on the work of botanical artists Margaret Mee, Maria Sibylla Merian, Lise Cloquet, and Elizabeth Blackwell. Among the oil paintings she produced during her residency is a portrait of a woman reclining against a mountainous landscape, her silhouette scattered with chrysanthemum and wallflower designs influenced by illustrations from the botanical artists Dinora studied.

 Read more about Dinora at http://www.dinorajustice.com/.  To read a blogpost about OSGF’s fall 2019 Artists in Residence, click here.