The Nonnas examines how rigid ideals of femininity are passed down through generations, shaping female identity, defining society’s expectations and governing individual autonomy.

The work places a modern female in vibrant red—a colour associated with passion and defiance—alongside repeated depictions of older, similar-looking females. Dressed in uniform-like black-and-white aprons, the Nonnas expose a deeper tension between inherited, embodied expectations and individual autonomy.

The Nonnas’ ritualised sequence of gestures reflects generations of females conditioned to accept, without question, dictated and prescribed societal roles, passing these from one generation to the next through instruction, judgement and tradition.

Drawing upon the visual language of advertising, fashion and cinema, the painting exposes how society’s ideals of femininity are constructed, entrenched, normalised and recycled through generations.

The Nonnas confronts the imperfection of a society that expects females to obey and conform to inherited ideals of femininity. It speaks to the freedom to reject prescribed societal roles, reclaim agency and define their own identities.