Meet the women artists diversifying the nude

The women in this article explained so clearly the way that I see a naked body when I am painting or photographing one. This article reinforced the the fact that I see the world through a female gaze. Nadia Waheed made a very important point by analysing how her work was perceived and why that might be: "For example I need to seriously consider why so many men find my work sexual; are they exotisising, fetishising my women? Or am I making subliminal choices to allow that to happen? " Nadia is exploring how the male gaze perceives her work and I am trying to do the same with my own because I struggle with finding the balance between sexualising myself when I pose and just existing while being photographed.

I'm creating very stylised body paint photos and am not sure why. 

I agree with the point that the female body is inherently sexual and this both brings me joy and frustration because I am still not sure how to just exist without those connotations being associated to me. It's been comforting to see other female artists who paint the female nude also struggle with this issue.

Bianca Nemelc, Monica Hernandez, Hiba Schahbaz and Nadia Waheed's paintings celebrate the body in all shapes, colors and sizes.

How do you think the context of the female nude changes based on the gender and/or race of the artist?

Race and gender of the artist can play a huge role in deciding from which lens we choose to view the female form. We naturally pull from our individual experiences and a woman's body is heavily charged with nuance and complexity on it's own, so an artist has the power to engage so many different conversations. If you take a step back and look at history, the nude female form has been subjected to centuries of narratives that aren't necessarily reflective of her truth, so now, it's even more important to understand the power dynamic that is happening off the canvas, who is driving this story? What are their biases? What knowledge are they pulling from and what exactly is the story they are trying to tell?

Is there a way that women’s bodies can be drawn/painted/sculpted/photographed without them being seen as sexual?

I believe the female body is inherently sexual, and when I create work I am aware of that even if the bodies I paint aren't doing anything sexually explicit. At our core, we are sexual beings and I think it would be a shame to strip the body of that very powerful force because it is not bad or taboo -- we create those narratives. With that said, I think we will always see the sexual nature of the female form, and for some people that can be negative or uncomfortable depending on their personal experiences. But, it is the responsibility of the viewer to go beyond that, to dig deeper into the work and peel back that first layer to understand the more complex narratives around the work. There are so many visions and stories that are told through the body and to reduce it to just being sexual does a disservice to the viewer and the artist.

Women are often seen as sexualised beings, why do you think that is? 

Especially in America, we're highly sexualised when it comes to stuff like advertising, but we also don't have a healthy relationship to sex and the body. The body is more taboo, it's under wraps, you can't really talk about it. The body is something that is desired so badly but it's also not really shown or seen except as something highly sexualised, like pornography or to sell a product. Women haven't been in charge of a lot of ways in which their bodies are represented. Women now are changing the way in which these things are being shown and talked about. I don't necessarily want to paint clothes because that's a lot of work... but it's also just the body. Sometimes when I show my work people will tell me that it's a family place and there shouldn't be nudity, which is a crazy thing to think about. 

Everything to do with traditional Eastern culture, which surrounds women, is so infused with tradition, beauty and making everything super elaborate. When you move away from that you face the opposite, which is strip everything back to basics. Everything should be exactly as it is and there are no secret meanings. I feel like I've had to navigate both extremes and different parts of the world a little bit.

I noticed that throughout art history, men were just painting women in a way that was appealing to them. It really had very little to do with how a woman herself would sit or how she would necessarily present herself or feel."

Why do you think the female nude is often sexualised? 

That’s a really complicated question, but women have always been sexualised, it’s woven into the fabric of our society for women to be infantilised, objectified, demeaned, and reduced to our bodies and our servitude since the beginning of recorded history. I can’t begin to answer the entire question but when I paint a nude, I’m not painting her “nude” — I’m painting her as she is, as I am. That is her body, simultaneously holy and neutral territory, to do with as she pleases, as I please. We were made like this, we have nothing to be ashamed of. When I make the work I just think, that’s a human body: breasts, nipples, pubic hair, clitoris...it’s human, it’s me. I don’t believe there’s any sexual current running through my work, the majority of women don’t see it either but a lot of men I’ve spoken to do see them as sexually charged paintings.

When a POC paints a nude, all those assumptions are put on that coloured body. When a non-POC paints a nude, obviously the context is completely different, they’re contending with a different history. I think it’s really important to be mindful of the way your work is being seen by the world. For example I need to seriously consider why so many men find my work sexual; are they exotisising, fetishising my women? Or am I making subliminal choices to allow that to happen? Obviously it’s imperative to make the most honest work possible - but we have to be cognisant of what we’re doing in the painting and what people are taking away from it. As per usual, I’m filled with a lot of questions and unfortunately not that many answers, but yes, I believe the context changes.

Meet the women artists diversifying the nude - i-D