Charlotte Holder, Painter

I think I knew from a very young age that I didn’t have the kind of body you find in a magazine or on television.  I was forced to realize, however, that true representation of the female figure is hard to come by.  We live in a world that minimizes and marginalizes bodies that stray from some arbitrary and antiquated perception of the ideal form.  In an effort to heal the trauma that lives in my own body, and perhaps help others do the same, I set out to create a body of work that centers misrepresented and undervalued bodies that were previously stripped of a space such as this. I couldn’t find a place for myself, so I created one.  My process begins by writing handwritten poetry directly on the canvas to help inspire the painting that follows, and I then work in acrylics to create unique abstraction of the female form.  I often use a limited and monochromatic color palette, and I gather inspiration from figure artists like Shona McAndrew, Jenny Saville, and Egon Schiele. I enjoy painting myself, or people I know, as I believe this adds both honesty and intimacy to the paintings I create, and it celebrates normal yet beautiful bodies.  Young me would feel seen, and I hope others can feel seen just the same.