Over time I have discovered that painting the female body is a problematic minefield, often finding that my work caresses a fine line between objectification and celebration.  As both an artist and a feminist, I believe it important to use my practice as a platform for discovery; using humour, poetry and irony in order to explore the artistic politics of women. My work aims to reclaim the female nude from a feminist perspective, in order to depict an empowered body and to challenge the heterosexual male gaze. In feminist theory, the male gaze presents women for the gratification of the male viewer, thus prompting objectification. I often feel as though I have set myself a near impossible task through these aims, as the sexualisation of women is so deeply ingrained through societal norms and attitudes towards gender.

Incorporating characteristics of surrealism became a starting point of using hilarity in order to challenge these perceptions, through depicting the breasts in an atypical environment. The irrational juxtaposition of artistic trope, such as the landscape, with the fragmented female body challenges the viewer to look in a non-sexualised way. Will the viewer still find a way to view a breast growing on a fig tree as sexy?

My practice raises questions about the artist to artwork relationship: does the author’s gender have an impact on the interpretation of the work? The fact that I am a woman plays a huge part in how I choose to represent the female form, and therefore, if my gender is not obvious, then the work could be misconstrued as an exploration of entirely different ideals. Taking ‘selfies’ reveals the author of the work and thus avoids ambiguity. This process has made me aware of how my sensitivity to a nude image of myself shifts when it becomes painted form. A nude photo of a woman taken by herself is typically thought of as something to be sent for the sexual gratification of the receiver, it is often seen as shameful, and becomes owned by the viewer. Translating images of my body into paint, creates art, its purpose redefined as something to be admired. Taking time to meticulously observe and replicate through paint has become an act of self-love; learning the contours of my figure through painted lines and mark making. The photograph is open to the male gaze, but through painting I am reclaiming ownership, deciding how I want to be viewed and thus removing permission for sexualisation. Through this process, I am connecting the physicality of paint application to the emotional attachment to the body, thus the self-portrait becomes an insight to my awareness of the self, reinforcing an element of control over the viewer’s gaze.

Juliette Wright, 2020