Anna Ilsley
- Alumni, 2010
- Faculty
- Bespoke Courses Faculty
Biography
Anna Ilsley’s work is inspired by mythologies and cultural references from across eras and cultures, her paintings and drawings address the physical and emotional impact of motherhood, in/fertility, loss, and her intensely strong urge to kick back against the cultural and political forces that shape women’s relationships with their own bodies. Using the physical constraints of the canvas itself as a structure that both restricts and supports the figures it contains, the characters she depicts are in turn resplendently fleshy, embracing, smothering, saucy, monstrous.
On drawing
There are a lot of quotes that spring to mind when I try to explain the way I see drawing. One of the most concise is from Tracey Emin, who talked about the directness of drawing as something that travels into your eye, through your brain, down your arm and onto paper. I think there's something in that, and it takes into account the element of paying homage to whatever it is you are looking at and drawing. The interesting bit is how we receive information as individuals and filter it – and how this translates into the wild expanse of how we look and how we draw.
