On Saturday, April 22nd, downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery will proudly unveil a new solo show from trailblazing artist Hera of HERAKUT, one half of the internationally acclaimed graffiti and street art duo from Germany. Titled tHERApy room 2, the show will be on view in Gallery 2 through May 27th and marks the artist’s first solo show in the U.S. since CHG hosted Hera’s debut solo Hera We Go Again in 2021.
Hera (aka Jasmin Siddiqui) combines her skills as a graffiti artist, illustrator, poet, and storyteller to create fluid figures with simultaneously elegant and chaotic line and brushstrokes. Her work is often a statement on the human condition and experiences of childhood.
Regarding her new series, Hera shares, “It’s 23 years now since I have touched a spray can for the first time. Who would have thought this tool would have such a defining effect on my life. To me, it was a match made in heaven, as it really felt like I had finally found my own vocabulary. One could say that I created my own language, in which I have been non-stop communicating and sharing my thoughts ever since ‒ on walls all over the world and on so many canvases, I’ve lost count. But even though I’ve written up hundreds of messages next to hundreds of big-eyed figures, it doesn’t get old or feel less important to me. Because, each note I write and share with the world, is actually a message addressed to that inner child, the vulnerable part that needs that extra encouragement, that talk of hope, of magic, and a little bit of escapism.”
Adding, “If you will, you could see each piece as a therapy session, where the therapist would be Hera wielding brush and spray paint, and the patient would be Jasmin, the woman underneath the animal metaphor hats and masks. Describing my artwork that way makes it seem as if I had never stopped working in a duo. Can this sound schizophrenic and wholesome at the same time?”
Last fall, we noted when Hera was on our Radio Juxtapoz podcast that, “For over a decade…HERA was one part of the successful street and fine art duo, HERAKUT. Their murals were seen across the world as part of a major generation of street artists who took muralism to new heights and interpretations. Her visual aesthetic, that of powerful women with a hybrid of animals and text made her and her partner, AKUT, international names in the movement. Now boldly working just as HERA, her voice in street art is that of a veteran and of individuality. She is a trailblazer…”
