Repeated visits to the Catalonian metropolis of Barcelona have revealed a multitude of colourful graffiti to be one of its most impressive and memorable features.
In recent years, Vanessa Castex, better known as Miss Van, has become a staple on the street art scene there, and is perhaps the most prominent female graffiti artist of contemporary times. She is best known for her distinctively sloe-eyed Poupes (based on the Russian for 'doll'): a series of coquettish and sometimes disturbing characters, suggested as being possible self-portraits of their creator:
The erotic nature of these petulant little Poupes has incited anger amongst some feminists, though, given their openly provocative appearance, I suspect that the caricaturesque creations are a form of social commentary in their own right.
