In April of this year, 50 women danced on stage at the London Palladium, naked except for body paint. Confetti rained down from the ceiling as Beyoncé blared around the auditorium to a cheering 2,500-strong audience. The joyous event was Send Nudes Live by the artist Sophie Tea who received 10,000 applications from women wanting to be a part of the show, a culmination of five years of work painting female nudes. With her mission statement to “make women feel just a little bit nicer about themselves”, the 31-year-old celebrates the female form with a signature style full of energy and vibrant colour.
Photography by Kayla Stoate
Tea calls the women she paints her “Nudies” and many have since become close friends but her candid sharing of her life and creative process online has also garnered her a dedicated following on TikTok and Instagram. In July, she painted the chests of a group of women campaigning in Westminster for the approval of a breast cancer drug and she regularly runs Charity Shop Fridays which see her travel all over the country and painting objects bought in charity shops before raffling them off.
Tea has recently returned to London after five years living in Sydney and on a fluffy pink sofa in her live-in penthouse studio in Shoreditch, she explains how her art is healing her relationship with her own body, why she loves oversharing and why you don’t need to know anything about art to visit her Carnaby Street gallery.
Photography by Twiggles https://twigglesuk.com/
You didn’t have a traditional path to being an artist. How did you come to understand that this was what you wanted to do?
I did a business degree and I had a grad scheme place as an analytical consultant at a software firm. I wanted to go on my last trip before I became an actual adult so I went to India and there was this hostel with loads of graffiti on the wall. I painted on it in return for a free stay. It was very random – I hadn’t painted since I was at school but I was like ‘oh my god, I need to do this with my life’. So I emailed my grad scheme: ‘Hi, I’ve decided to become an artist!’ and they were like ‘yeh, we literally don’t care’. Just like that, I had decided I was an artist. How did I realise I could make it commercially viable? Naivety! I was poor anyway and I figured I had nothing to lose at that stage.
Was arts and culture a big part of your growing up?
Yes and no. My dad actually quit art school to become an accountant! Which is bizarre because he did it the opposite way around to me. My grandma was an art teacher. My auntie is an art teacher. My mum always let me make a mess. I don’t feel like I went to all the galleries and knew about art history. We weren’t ‘cultured’. We weren’t a family that thought of ourselves as ‘art people’ but we were creative. My mum made cushions for our house, she made the curtains. She’s got an amazing eye for design. And my dad is always painting in his spare time. But I just kind of thought that was everyone. I didn’t feel like we were any different.
Where does your inspiration come from?
Definitely life. I think my work’s quite confessional. I get so much inspiration from the women that are part of my campaigns. I obviously focus on nude work and when I was growing up, I never had the best relationship with my body. I always hated the size of my boobs and never liked the way I looked. I’m now realising as I’m an adult, that’s where the drive to paint naked women comes from. To solve that negative relationship I’ve had. I think what you realise is that the work will never be done to solve the relationships that we have with ourselves. We always need reminders. All I can hope for is that my artwork serves as a reminder, in your house, that you’re fine as you are.
Photography by Twiggles https://twigglesuk.com/
What has your work making female nudes taught you?
The biggest thing it’s taught me is that when women come together, magic happens. Secondly, it’s that we are all constantly dealing with change and having a support system or routine or engaging in art in any way, can really help you through a hard time…I’m trying to do this thing where I’m nicer to myself and I believe that one of my superpowers is seeing the beauty in people and when I can do that on a canvas and I show them and they’re happy with it, that’s very healing for me too.
How have you found creating nudes of yourself?
That was huge for me. I didn’t like it but I pushed into it. I actually had a 3D scan of my body because it was made into a NFT. It was weird. It’s kind of like an out of body experience because you don’t recognise yourself. My relationship with my body fluctuates. I’m still going through it. I definitely feel better about myself than I did when I was little. I think that’s why I’m doing it: for the 14-year-old girls. I always say that if I had seen someone with a flatter chest or who was a bit lanky, in a movie or in a magazine, it would have changed the way I felt about myself.
Photography by Arron Leppard
You posted recently about having a difficult time but that you had your “art to channel everything into”? Does making art improve your mood?
It’s very interesting because typically I have to be in a good place to make art. Because I feel like I give so much of myself to it. I would like, as an artist, to learn to create when I’m not good. Because I would like it to be a healer for me too. That’s what I’m trying to do now.
How do you feel when you’re painting?
Honestly, it’s very calming. I feel like everywhere else, I jump from thing to thing. I get very excited about something and then I’ll leave it. Art is the thing that zones me in. It really grounds me and, provided I’m in a good mood, I can do it for long periods of time and lock in. It brings me a lot of peace.
What art makes you feel good about yourself?
Music, definitely. I’m not very knowledgeable about it but I reap the benefits! I love Tracey Emin’s work because it’s very raw. She puts herself out there and it just makes you feel normal. It makes you feel like your thought processes and what you’re going through is valid.
You often livestream your process – why do you choose to do that?
I thrive on it. I was the type of person that would share a drunk status on Facebook when I was 18. Oversharing is natural for me. However I know that people struggle with it. Sometimes people ask me for advice as to how to be an artist. I say: lean into what you’re actually comfortable with. Mine is the fact that I’ve got a blabbermouth. I find it very easy to share. It lets people see the process – it’s not something boujis and fancy. It’s not refined. It’s just me in my scrubs painting, having a cup of tea.
Why is it important to you to make art more accessible?
I think we’ve still got a way to go to democratise the art world and that’s my agenda. Business-wise, I put that into practice by allowing people to pay for my artworks in instalments. The Charity Shop Fridays are accessible because you show up and get a raffle ticket. It’s not an auction; it’s anyone's game and I like that.
When I first started being an artist, I’d go to galleries and it would be all white walls and there’d be someone in the corner being completely silent. I was an artist but I was intimidated to go in there. Like, no! Art is for everyone and should be enjoyed even if you don’t have money. The space that I wanted to make is welcoming. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything about art history, or you don’t know the difference between oil or acrylic paint, or what a print or original is. We’re here to educate, if you want to be educated. If not, no worries – go get your Instagram pictures!
Photography by Twiggles https://twigglesuk.com/
It’s all good. As long as you feel relaxed. No-one’s gonna move you on. If you want to chill in there all day, do it.
What’s interesting and exciting at the moment, I think, is that on a cultural level, the definition of being an artist is shifting and I love that. Obviously it’s not always only been painting or sculptures – there are so many art forms. But I feel that social is now an art form. Video content is an art form. Because it’s just another way of connecting people. How are you going to have what you create make a difference in someone else’s life? I think that’s art. I think there’s so many artists everywhere that don’t think of themselves as artists. But they are.
Written by Rachael Sigee. Check out all of her amazing platforms! https://rachaelsigee.com/
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