Letters to Anya Moore
Image via @anyamooreart on Instagram.
Anya Moore is both a full time student and artist, promoting self love through her portraits of the female body. Not stopping there, she also offers art classes, encouraging others to love and appreciate their bodies to portray through creativity.
Starting off with this, what got you into painting in the first place?
I started painting in the first lockdown (April 2020) when I had come to stay with my mum during the pandemic after a break up, I was bored, as everyone was at the time, and she asked if I wanted to paint a mural on her shed, on the outside, where the hot tub would go. I was always very creative as a kid and would draw all of the time, but as I grew up I ‘didn’t see the point’ because I didn’t think that it would benefit my future career or earn me money (thank you capitalism). When my mum asked, I said I would give it a go, not knowing whether I would be any good at it or not, thinking I could just paint over it if it went wrong and it actually went well! After that I just bought canvases and spent my spare time painting because I enjoyed it so much.
How interlinked do you find creativity and personal experience to be?
Hugely interlinked, your personal experiences can affect whether or not you feel creative or feel like creating anything at all and whether you are able to come up with any new ideas, but it can also be a huge source of inspiration. I know that when I’m at my happiest and most motivated, that is generally when my new ideas come to me. I think a lot of personal experience these days comes from social media as it can massively affect our moods and our mindset, and a lot of my creativity comes from following other amazing creators who inspire me. My personal experience (boredom and a breakup) were the main reason I ever started painting.
How would you describe your art if you could?
I am not at all familiar with the art terms, but I would say that my art is somewhat abstract. It celebrates the female form and body positivity/ self-love and self-acceptance. I also do some pet and some trippy paintings so a bit of everything really and I’m always up for a challenge so if somebody comes to me with an idea, I’m always happy to give it my best shot.
Is there a consistent message running through the art that you produce?
I would hope that it is one of self-acceptance and self-love, but I also see my art as something that is fun – I want people to look at my art and feel happy and also represented, not just in body size, shape but also race etc, so inclusivity too.
What about art allows you to express these things, as opposed to other creative forms?
With my pieces in particular, they are based on real people, most of my work is commission based and therefore is taken directly from photos that I have been sent so they genuinely are real bodies, of all different shapes and sizes. There are also no rules to painting, so you can have fun, experiment with colours, textures and the lines that you put into the bodies because they can hugely change the shape and overall look. Painting is inexpensive too so it means that I can set prices that are accessible to everyone (as best I can) so that everyone can have an empowering piece in their house should they decide that they want to. It really is fun, and I recommend that anyone give it a go.
Women demanding space in any sector is important. How do you feel this translates into the world of art?
Like I mentioned before, I’m not so familiar with fine art or the technical aspects of art at all, I just paint because I enjoy it and I enjoy making my customers happy, however, I know that when I personally think of famous artists in history, the majority of the names that I can think of are men, as is the case with many historical figures. Social media has many negatives that we are all aware of, but one of the positives is that it gives platforms on which women artists can share their work and share others, therefore taking up space. Every day I see so many women creating beautiful things and sharing it and even selling it, making names for themselves as not just artists but business owners and entrepreneurs, which is amazing. For a lot of women, it is easier to create their own businesses and become entrepreneurs, meaning that there is less societal pressure to join and climb the corporate ladder in which misogyny and sexism is still very much prevalent.
Though, I do think that we are making the right steps to a future with more equality and representation for women, I still think that there is a long way to go so we need to carry on demanding space in all sectors and in all aspects of life.
And lastly, is there something that you think is important in learning to embrace your own body as it is?
This is a hard question to answer, because, despite my job, I still struggle hugely with embracing my own body and still have many insecurities which do not just go away because I encourage others to go on a journey of self-acceptance and self-love. However, we have to remember to put things into perspective, we are one life, among millions, floating on a rock in an endless universe, just the fact that you were born and are alive is a miracle so just focus on living your best life irrespective of how you look, as long as you’re not hurting anyone and you have a good time, it’s all groovy.
