Canadian-based illustrator, Elly Smallwood, focuses on the human body, with all its messiness. Originally from Ottawa, Smallwood graduated from OCAD University in 2011.
But her artistic exploration started much earlier. “As a kid, I was constantly falling in love with something new every day: painting, calligraphy, weaving, origami, sewing, sculpting,” she recalls in an interview with Playboy Magazine. “I was always addicted to that rush of creating something.”
Her artworks, mostly painted with oil, acrylic, and watercolor, delve into the human body, either hers or the people surrounding her. Her intimate and raw portraits tell the untold stories of females reclaiming their bodies.
“The female form has been a battlefield in art history,” she argues. “Male painters painted it for their own pleasure; female painters painted it to reclaim it and give it agency.”
Check out some of her striking work below.
