We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cheyenne Conrady a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Cheyenne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

As a woman, an artist and a model, I have had my share of experience being objectified and sexualized. It has taken me nearly three decades to even begin to understand how to articulate the idea surrounding much of my art: My relationship with my body and ownership of my sexuality as a woman versus the sexualization of me by others and their desire to have ownership over my body.

In America, our society is deeply entrenched in misogyny and a culture that is physically, emotionally and mentally damaging to women. All of us participate in that culture, some of us consciously and some unconsciously, because it is so deeply engrained in us from birth.

Because of this, we have a very difficult time separating our thoughts about women’s bodies and sex, and how (and when) they connect. People, particularly men, struggle to understand how a woman owning her sexuality or loving her body does not give them permission to impart their own gaze onto those women.

My art is inspired by many different issues affecting women, but high on that list is our sexual expression and right to our own bodies. Just because a woman chooses to dress a certain way does not give anyone the right to comment on her body. Just because a woman openly talks about her personal experience with her body does not give anyone the right to make assumptions about her body. Just because someone sexualizes themselves does not mean they are giving anyone consent to do the same.

In my art, the women painted are owning their own stories. What you see when you look at my work, when you see the women I have painted in such a vulnerable and yet empowering state, says more about you and the entrenched ideas you have absorbed about women throughout your life than it does about the woman in the piece. What I am hoping people will take away from my art is this: that’s true in real life as well.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always been fascinated by women and enamored by art, but I never knew the two would connect for me. I began painting the female form in the same year that I began therapy and decided to consciously get to know myself. After years of insecurity, fear, trauma and all of the other lovely things that come with growing up, I started exploring the artist that I always knew was inside of me.

It began with charcoal sketches, then having friends pose for me for fun, then taking self portraits for pose references that made me feel empowered and beautiful and curious about my own body. It deepened with my own experiences in therapy, as well as research about women’s issues and exploration of female and female-identifying voices and stories. Eventually, I knew I wanted to be a figure artist and weave all of these interests into one creative form of expression.

My art is inspired by many different issues affecting women, but high on that list is our sexual expression and right to our own bodies. Just because a woman chooses to dress a certain way does not give anyone the right to comment on her body. Just because a woman openly talks about her personal experience with her body does not give anyone the right to make assumptions about her body. Just because someone sexualizes themselves does not mean they are giving anyone consent to do the same.

In my art, the women painted are owning their own stories. What you see when you look at my work, when you see the women I have painted in such a vulnerable and yet empowering state, says more about you and the entrenched ideas you have absorbed about women throughout your life than it does about the woman in the piece. What I am hoping people will take away from my art is this: that’s true in real life as well.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am very open about the fact that my art is meant to represent women’s issues and voices, and that I hope it brings acceptance of our bodies and our sexualities to any woman who comes across my art. That is a goal I lead with in most conversations about my creative journey. But something else I am less open about that is a private goal for me is that my own art is healing for me. My creative journey is in large part about healing my own ideas and feelings about my body — how I have treated it, how society has treated it, what it does for me, etc. That is another conversation entirely, but one that does weave its way into my art.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have a complicated relationship with social media which I think many people, artists or not, can relate to. I often daydream about being completely offline and off the grid, but then I have that argument we have all had with ourselves where I think “but I NEED to have this for my work.” I go back and forth with how I use it, how I feel about it, etc.

The advice I would give to someone now, that I wish someone had given me five years ago, is you don’t have to know exactly what you are doing. You don’t have to have a perfectly curated feed, or a strategy, or a call to action or whatever else the Internet makes you think you need. You don’t need a professional studio, a million views or to post everyday. You just need to try things.

Share your art when and how you want to. Share behind the scenes if you feel like it. Create a separate account for your art if you want to, or don’t and change your mind later. When it comes to aesthetics and audience, those things are fickle and will come and go. Be authentic to yourself, change as much as you want to, and do what feels true to your art when it comes to social media.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cheyenneconrady.com
• Instagram: @cheyenneconrady
• Linkedin: /in/cheyenneconrady

Image Credits
Photos By Kylie Hull