Artist who paints the bodies of women suffering from anorexia and alopecia reveals how it boosts their confidence
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A woman has revealed how she empowers female sufferers of conditions like anorexia and alopecia by painting their bodies.
Anne-Claire Fleer, a 26-year-old artist from London, has opened up about how her work helps women feel more confident about their bodies.
Models - who she says are always “real women” - have their bodies painted so that they match an abstract art canvas behind them.
She then takes a photo of their bodies blending in with the background and shares it on her Instagram.
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As well as health conditions, participants may also be going through a big life event such as a divorce.
At first, they often want anonymity, but they usually later post the finished result on social media because they are so “proud”.
“I paint women from all over the world, all ages, sizes and shapes. I never use models, just 'real women,' Anne-Claire told Femail, who used to work in finance until two years ago.
She became an abstract artist but accidentally found herself in body painting when she shared the results of an “experiment” to her Instagram and the requests began rolling in.
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“I realised there was a market for it and started looking into ways of offering female empowerment body paint sessions,” she explained.
“The moment I realised it was more than 'just' body painting, was when I started seeing a pattern in those first ladies I painted and how they transformed during our sessions.”
Anne-Claire revealed that after they would wash the paint off in the shower the “magic is gone”.
She said she has painted women of all ages, sizes and shapes around the world.
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The artist explained that women often want to feel a “freedom” in order to overcome or accept their particular disease and use it as an opportunity to “grow confidence and celebrate their bodies”.
With those going through divorce, they often want to regain that feeling of “independence”, she added.
