Irène Gérard comes from a small town in the heart of Belgium’s German-speaking community. In 2007, she joined the workshops of La “S” in Vielsalm, where her artistic practice was initially centered exclusively on coloring books. Quickly familiarizing herself with painting and pastel drawing, she began reproducing portraits—painted or photographic—on large formats, typically against a uniform background, fully making them her own. For the collective project Ave Luïa, she produced representations of cardinals and nuns whose expressive power, and at times severity, recalls certain Renaissance paintings.