Poster art of Original Sisters by Anita Kunz

ORIGINAL SISTERS: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage

‘ORIGINAL SISTERS’ SHOW OF ORIGINAL PAINTINGS:

Original Sisters was born in the COVID-19 quarantine. In early March 2020, locked down in her home studio in Toronto and longing for inspiration, artist Anita Kunz started researching women on the Internet. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she soon found an array of astonishing people who had done amazing things—some of whom she had heard of, but most of whom she had not. And then she began to paint their pictures and write down their stories. The result is a jaw-dropping feat of historic and artistic research. The wide variety of lives, occupations, time periods, and achievements is absolutely mind-bending.

From Joan of Arc to Josephine Baker, from Hippolyta to Greta Thunberg, from Anne Frank to Misty Copeland: these women made and changed history. But there are just as many whom you’ve never heard of, who were never recognized in their lifetimes, whose achievements need to be brought to light. They include the anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl, who was executed at age twenty-one by the Third Reich, and Alice Ball, a young African American scientist who discovered a treatment for leprosy but died tragically before she could receive credit for it.

Original Sisters recounts a secret history that must be told so that it is a secret no more. “I spent the pandemic creating a series of paintings; a labour of love, and I've ended up with almost 500 portraits of extraordinary women, many of whom have been overlooked or forgotten entirely. I also wrote brief summaries about their accomplishments.
The women I painted cover the spectrum. Young and old, different nationalities and religions, and women from the beginning of civilization to ones who are currently accomplishing great things. I've compiled all of the paintings and brief descriptions of every one of the subjects' accomplishments and I put together a gallery show so that the public could learn about these women. “

The show of original paintings was shown at TAP Centre for Creativity in London Ontario and was the first time the entire collection could be seen. A smaller version of the show (40 of the 365 paintings) was shown at the Iona Gallery in Toronto spring of 2022.

All paintings are acrylic on board, 12" wide by 16" deep, with white frames and glass.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE WORKS IN VIDEO FORMAT

See Video

The Observer

The Boston Globe

"At the cusp of a new political and cultural moment, Anita’s celebration of women’s strength, perseverance, and undeniable impact has a particularly powerful resonance and meaning.”

The Boston Globe

“Today “Original Sisters’’ feels urgent. It’s a heartening tether between untold histories and a threatening future. As a woman standing in Kunz’s Hall of sisters, I felt a knot inside me loosen. Look who we are, I thought. Look what we can do.”

Roxane Gay

The Boston Globe

The New Yorker

“Anita Kunz reminds us that women’s history is the world’s history. She reminds us that much of the culture we take for granted exists by the grace of women’s ingenuity. She that demands that we continue to interrogate why women and their historical contributions are, all too often, overlooked.”

The New Yorker

The Boston Globe

The New Yorker

“ [Kunz’s] ideas and concepts are as bold as her brush line is graceful.”

The Observer

Steve Heller Print Magazine

Mariska Hargitay

“It’s only when seeing her Original Sisters en masse in one room, rows upon rows of them, that one fully understands the power and importance of her project.”

Mariska Hargitay

Steve Heller Print Magazine

Mariska Hargitay

“Thank you for painting these extraordinary women, for portraying their individuality, strength, determination, courage, perseverance, and their particular beauty.”

Steve Heller Print Magazine

"Visiting the Norman Rockwell Museum’s galleries, seeing the precise rows of over 200 of her forgotten “Original Sisters,” one will doubtless be rendered speechless by the beauty, gravity, intelligence and passion in each of these works."