Roxanne Sauriol Hauenherm
Home: Montréal, Quebec
Title: Ketchup
Media: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 101 x 61 cm
Website: roxyperoxyde.com
Instagram: @roxyperoxyde
ARTIST STATEMENT
The subject confronts the viewer with a defiant, arrogant gaze. Her lower abdomen appears wounded, while holding a bloodied blade in her left hand, a stark confession of violence inflicted upon her own body. She wears a white dress, a latex veil, and balances the artists childhood teddy bear on her head, as symbol of innocence. At first glance, the title Ketchup suggests play or parody, yet the presence of a fly hovering near the blade dismantles any illusion of harmlessness. Behind her, the waters and sky is disturbingly still, tinted in unnatural hues that heighten the unease.
This work confronts the erosion of women’s bodily autonomy. By stripping women of reproductive rights, at gun point through laws, society demands that women regress into a childlike state of dependency, ceding ultimate authority over life itself to the state who ultimately hands it out entirely to men. The teddy bear perched on the crown of the head symbolizes this imposed state of infantile consciousness. The figure enacts purity: the white dress, the Virgin-like veil, the symbols of submission. Yet beneath this veneer of compliance, she makes a radical declaration: “I would rather sacrifice my ability to bear children entirely than relinquish sovereignty over my own body.”
ARTIST BIO
b. 1987, Montreal, Canada
Roxy Peroxyde (Roxanne Sauriol Hauenherm) is a self-taught artist whose photorealistic oil paintings have been exhibited and collected internationally. She is recognized for her vivid portrayals of female figures, which serve as vessels for an autobiographical narrative shaped by the zeitgeist.
Her paintings strike at the status quo with sharp wit, disarming selfdeprecation, and a humour seamlessly shifting from light to dark. Through these strategies, Hauenherm explores themes ranging from spiritual psychosis to speculations on life beyond Earth. She frequently incorporates religious symbolism, noting: “Religious symbolism has the ability to tap directly into the collective unconscious, making complex concepts easy to decode.”
While her use of colour and subject matter may seem deceptively superficial and to some, even shallow, this aesthetic is intentional. As she explains: “The colours serve as a sugar coat, the subject as an entry point, only then do I truly feel comfortable opening cultural and personal discussions, at least for now.”
Hauenherm’s process begins with the development of conceptual frameworks, followed by the meticulous casting of models whose ability to embody the emotional and intellectual dimensions of her themes, ensures each work achieves its fullest intent. Since 2008, shortly after the birth of her only daughter, which became the pivotal catalyst for her career, Hauenherm has cultivated a practice rooted in technical mastery and uncompromising storytelling.