Artist Statement
“My current practice explores the body, objectification and sexualisation. These works touch on themes of fetishism, violence and intimacy, primarily focusing on women’s bodies using personal experiences as source material. Works express the perception of self and the way women police their own bodies and desirability. However, recent works see the objectification of the male form explored, utilising a lens typically applied to women to disrupt the accepted view of male and female bodies.
My work has previously focused on the deification of the everyday. Works in exhibitions from 2022 to 2024 explored connections to nature and between individuals - drawing on the history of religious art and narrative, and on modern psychological analysis.”
Female Self-Objectification
“This collection of works is at the core of my project interrogating the presentation and perception of the body. Through my own experience with objectifiying oneself in private moments.”
Pose 2, oil on paper, 134 x 97 cm, 2023
Pose 3, oil on paper, 130 x 115 cm, 2023
Pose 4, oil on paper, 145 x 118 cm, 2026
Pose 3, oil on canvas, 139 x 86.5 cm, 2026
Pose 6, oil on canvas, 139 x 86.5 cm, 2026
Male Objectification
“These works present male nudity through an objectified lens. Through this work I hope to discover a sexualising female gaze, rather than a female gaze which is necessarily interested in personifying the male subject.”
Mirror 1, oil on paper, 114 x 130 cm, 2023
Mirror 2, oil on paper, 100 x 160 cm, 2023
My Eyes Only, oil and acrylic on canvas, 147 x 93 cm, 2024
Interiorised, oil and acrylic on canvas, 147 x 93 cm, 2026
Relationships and Intimacy
“This theme examines emotional intimacy and vulnerability in relationships, particularly intergender relationships. Nudity is allegorical for the feeling of being exposed to another person. Exposure received a runner-up prize in the 2023 Batsford Prize. The diptych, Disconnection, explores emotional intimacy and a dynamic of disconnection in relationships. Regardless of the order, one figure is always looking outside of the composition with the other looking on.”
Exposure, oil and acrylic on canvas, 208 x 155.5 cm, 2023
Disconnection I, oil on paper, 120 x 125 cm, 2023
Disconnection II, oil on paper, 120 x 125 cm, 2023
Desire and Aggression
“An extension of the work on female objectification, this series asks the question how far can we take sexualised depictions of the female body before they become repulsively aggressive.”
Erotophonphillia, oil and acrylic on canvas, 145 x 112 cm, 2026
Feminine Toy, oil and acrylic on board (framed), 12 x 10 cm (27 x 22 cm), 2026
Bum I, oil and acrylic on board (framed), 12 x 10 cm (27 x 22 cm), 2026
Bum II, oil and acrylic on board (framed), 12 x 10 cm (27 x 22 cm), 2026
Religion and Ritual
“These works focus on the deification of the everyday, connections to nature and between individuals. They draw on the history of religious art and narrative, and on modern psychological analysis.
Eve was selected for the Graduate Art Show and was exhibited at William Blake House in Soho, London in 2023.”
Custodian, oil on pine board, 95 X 56 cm, 2021
Custodian, oil on poplar board, 100 x 63.5 cm, 2023
Burial I, oil and acrylic on canvas, 100 x 69.5 cm 2023
Burial II, oil and acrylic on canvas, 153 x 112 cm, 2026
Contact Rose Willis
to discuss sales, exhibitions and collaborations.