Lipstick & Courage – A0 Framed Canvas

Made to order in Cape Town · Complimentary delivery across South Africa

Contemporary Historical Beauty Wall Art from the Inat — Beauty Under Siege Collection

Made to order in Cape Town · Nationwide delivery

Lipstick and Courage is a contemporary portrait inspired by one of the most quietly defiant moments of the twentieth century — and by a friendship that brought that moment close to home.

The artist's best friend grew up in Sarajevo. Visiting the city for the first time in 2012, she walked its streets with a new awareness of what her friend and her family had lived through. Back home, she went looking through the archives and news reports from the siege, and came across the story of the 1993 Miss Besieged Sarajevo pageant: young women walking a stage in a city under fire, holding a banner that read "Don't let them kill us." She listened to "Miss Sarajevo" by U2 and Luciano Pavarotti over and over, and those women stayed with her.

There is no war in this portrait, yet somehow it can be felt just beyond the frame.

A woman sits alone at her dressing table, eyes lowered, the mirror lights glowing beside her like small lanterns in the dark. It is the private moment before the stage, when she gathers herself and prepares to be seen. Her lipstick is perfect. Her composure is complete. Nothing about her suggests defeat.

We often imagine courage as something loud. Yet sometimes it looks like this: choosing to dress, to paint your lips, to stand up straight when the world is trying to take everything from you. For the women of Sarajevo, beauty became a form of resistance — a refusal to let fear decide who they would be.

Rendered in deep midnight tones and warm champagne light, Lipstick and Courage feels suspended somewhere between photograph and memory. It holds the spirit of a city the artist came to love through her friend's eyes: its dignity, its defiance, and its extraordinary will to go on living.

Lipstick and Courage is a portrait of quiet bravery — and an homage to the women who reminded the world that beauty can be an act of courage.

Part of the Inat — Beauty Under Siege Collection. Created through photography and mixed-media composition, this large framed wall artwork has a cinematic, painterly quality. Its dark, moody palette, glowing light and elegant composition make it a striking statement piece for a living room, bedroom, dressing room, entrance hall, office or hospitality interior.

The artwork is printed on premium canvas and custom framed to order in Cape Town. It is available in a Natural Obeche or Kiaat-Stained Obeche floating frame.

Artwork details

Artwork size: A0 portrait — 118.9 × 84.1 cm
Medium: Photography and mixed-media composition
Print: Premium canvas
Frame: Solid Obeche wood
Frame profile: 7 mm visible face × 50 mm depth
Floating gap: 5 mm
Frame finishes: Natural Obeche or Kiaat-stained Obeche
Hanging hardware: Included
Made in: Cape Town, South Africa

Framing

Each artwork is custom framed with a slim 7 mm face, generous 50 mm depth and a subtle 5 mm floating gap. Choose Natural Obeche for a light, warm finish or Kiaat-stained Obeche for a richer, darker appearance.

Production and delivery

Each piece is made to order in Cape Town and carefully packaged for secure delivery. Please allow 5 working days for production before dispatch.

Complimentary delivery is included to most major cities and suburbs across South Africa. Remote or outlying areas may incur an additional delivery fee. If a surcharge applies to your address, we will contact you before production begins.

Returns and exchanges

Each Republic of Venus artwork is individually made and framed to order, and for this reason we are unable to accept returns or exchanges for change of mind.

If your artwork arrives damaged, has a manufacturing defect, or is not what you ordered, please contact us as soon as possible so that we can arrange a replacement.

Republic of Venus — Poetry, for your walls.