Vee Speers has drawn inspiration from a wide array of historical and cultural sources throughout her career, but her most recent influence is from the extravagant courts of Versailles. For Speers, this offers fertile ground for exploring contemporary themes of identity, performance, and illusion. In her work, Speers often incorporates elements reminiscent of Versailles: theatrical poses, stylised costumes, and a painterly aesthetic that nods to the classical portraiture of the period. Yet her images also reveal the vulnerability and artifice behind such carefully constructed appearances. Like the courtiers who lived under the ever-watchful eye of the King, her subjects seem caught between self-expression and societal expectation, between mask and reality. By channeling the spirit of Versailles, Speers doesn’t merely pay homage to an historical era—she uses its visual language to comment on our own age of performance, curated identities, and the complex dance between power and self-presentation.