Anne Pollard James, The Delight Project No. 3, Oil on canvas, $2,500

Thinking about the ways our mind settles on the body, our own body, we all sit with those tightly wrapped up ideas that we have (or have been given) through the course of our life.  For many, the thought is how our bodies have disappointed us somehow, that they are too much, too little, too soft, too hard, too curved, too square, too stretched, too old, too saggy, too sick and too tired.  Too something.  As womxn, we are always asked to cover up and camouflage bodies. Based on what we see on a screen, you would never know that skin has scars, pores and complex texture. That the body is as pragmatic as it is mysterious.  The very things that make us strong and capable are the things that our cameras filter out…the muscles and the fascia that mold fat into cellulite and keep our legs strong to carry us on our way, our faces line and fall with gravity and then peak to glorious smiles that light up everything, our bellies rise and fall and are streaked with the pale-blue-peach hued marks that stretch to hold us.

Working with the subject to photograph a specific moment, this painting captured a small (but hugely important) moment of joy and delight This paintings is part of a  red thread of a new body of work that I’m exploring.

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