Good Morning! To start this lovely Sunday off I am so happy to share with you an interview here on The Creative Body with the amazing creator and artist Rebecca Harte. Rebecca talks about how she started to learn and educate herself about fat acceptance, the origins of body positivity and how she uses her platform to centre people of these movements. Check out her soft and ethereal illustrations and read the interview below.
Tell us about yourself & your practice? (please include your pronouns)
I'm Rebecca (She/her), an Irish artist based in the UK. I moved from Northern Ireland to study BA Fine Art at the University of Chichester where my practice was performance based, exploring my own body and experiences. After graduating in 2019 it took almost a year before I began creating any art again. In March of 2020 the UK went into lockdown and I came across online life drawing classes on Instagram. I originally joined Body Confidence's online sessions (IG @bodyconfidence) and the sheer energy of these sessions left me feeling so inspired. I didn't feel under pressure to create something worthy of public consumption which allowed me to actually enjoy what I was doing. I came across Fat Life Drawing (IG @fatlifedrawing) not long after which inspired me in a different way. Body Confidence sessions are often fast paced, themed and have incredibly dynamic poses from an experienced model and artist. Fat Life Drawing is softer, the models are often amateur and the poses tend to be longer. Even attending these two classes allows me to explore so many different forms, body types and energies and they've both opened my eyes to writing, thoughts and representations of bodies in the media. The majority of my drawings are quite soft in shades of red, pinks and purples. There tends to be a strong sense of femininity from the Fat Life Drawing models which contrast the often-masculine energies from the Body Confidence sessions. Drawing from my experience with performance, I try to focus on being present and really observing the model's body in a space, an interesting concept since the sessions are online and not in person.
2. What inspires your art form?
My art is definitely inspired by the people I'm drawing. I like to stick to a particular colour palette but I try to let the model lead the colour choices and mark making within that. I enjoy creating bolder outlines in my work but this can change depending on who I am representing. I have some drawings that are so soft and delicate that the model becomes this ethereal being. Each model has brought something very different to my practice whether it's their physical body, a charity they are raising money for, the props or environment they're modelling in or even the songs they have added to the playlist.
What got you into creating forms of art that explore and celebrate body acceptance / self-love / body neutrality / fat acceptance?
I fell into my current art practice almost accidentally. Finishing my BA really knocked my confidence once I realised I wouldn't be able to immediately sustain myself as a full-time artist. Body Confidence sessions were something I joined to force myself into creating something again but her energy really inspired me in a way that made me begin experimenting and enjoying what I was doing. Once I found Fat Life Drawing, I became more committed to developing my practice using figure drawing. My work has developed quite organically to a point where I'm happy with what I'm doing but also planning for future development and planning to open personal commissions. Originally these sessions caught my eye because they were so unlike the life drawing classes I had attended in the past where the models always had the same body types, the same rigid poses, the same tradition. The first few Fat Life Drawing sessions I found it so difficult to represent the models body types and I realised it was because I had never drawn them before. I think that's when I really started to think about the implications and restrictions of my previous practice and began educating myself. I tend to think of myself now as a sort of vessel between the model and the finished piece. I am simply a tool that allows the model to be represented in an art form.
What are your thoughts on body acceptance / fat acceptance / body neutrality?
Being part of such inclusive groups has provided me with a space to help educate myself and has exposed me to uncomfortable truths about my experiences and those of others. Fatphobia and body neutrality were two phrases that weren't on my radar until recently. As a relatively thin artist depicting body types that are, for the most part, different from my own, I really felt like I owed it to the people I was drawing to educate myself further on the experiences of fat, disabled, trans and non-binary bodies, in particular. I was shocked to learn that my opinions on body acceptance had been formed through following the body positive Instagram trends with thin, white women at their centre instead of through the original Fat Acceptance movement which began in the sixties led by Black women.
I am working hard to continue to learn from the people at the centre of these movements, particularly regarding fat acceptance. I don't want to use my work to speak for the people I am depicting, instead I want to use it as a platform for the model to exist unapologetically, to see themselves represented within art and to encourage people like me to educate themselves and others.
Who is/are your favourite creative/s that explore body acceptance / fat acceptance / self-love within their work?
I have far too many favourites to list off but a pretty regular top of my list is Spunk Rock (@spunk.rock IG) who creates digital and traditional erotic art. I find her work so playful and I love how she represents so many different bodies, sexualities and fetishes. I find it so aggressively unapologetic. Not only does she create incredible artwork but her Instagram stories are regularly a place of education in the form of shared articles, images and opinions. I would really recommend checking out her work particularly for anyone who enjoys sex positive art.
Thank you so much Rebecca for sharing with us your thoughts about the body acceptance movement in this honest and delightful interview.
If you would like to find out more about Rebecca click here for their instagram @RebeccaHarteArt
Thanks for reading and take care x
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