Akira and I spoke for months about making this happen. After lockdowns and restrictions, we finally met and, eventually, one session turned into four, with a massive amount of material at each time. The following set is one of the hardest selections I had to make so far and it includes a short video with scenes from all the beautiful moments I had the pleasure to witness. I hope it does Akira's art justice.
Affection
‘The core of each project and work I do is affection - and I enjoy painting bodies. In that, and in all types of mediums (from painting a canvas to a piece of fabric), I bring both the experiences I have from a personal perspective and with my own body, and also other people’s, as each one tells a story. Subjects such as sexuality and the concept of what freedom is in these experiences are frequent in everything I create.
Very recently, someone interpreted my work as “abstract figurative painting, with a touch of surrealism”, which was something that I never really thought of, but do identify a lot with the terms.’
When asked about how she goes about her creative process, Akira simply stated: ‘I made a very strict rule with myself that whatever needs to come out, to let it come out’.
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Akira Liones
@lionesyayo | yayo