Atusa Jafari is a 21-year-old Iranian-German artist living in Berlin. The self-taught artist has caught the attention of many art connoisseurs since her latest project. She created a series of oil sketches capturing the beauty of home nudity.
After being locked up at home due to the pandemic for so many months, Atusa decided to harness the situation creatively, and take advantage of that scenario, to show different common domestic scenes from that routine. An ingenious way to draw inspiration from circumstances which many might otherwise consider lacking creative drive. Nevertheless, the artist did a fantastic job. The first thing we can identify is the way she portrays her subjects. The authenticity and comfort with which she presents the naked bodies, body language in its purest and rawest of forms, avoiding premeditated postures.
Her sketches show private situations that are not usually perceived as artistic due to their mundanity, some might consider them “less special”. Quite the endeavor, since it fills the viewer with a great feeling of intimacy, highlighting the beauty of common knowledge.
The young artist born in Darmstadt has lived in Berlin for two years, which has helped her work continue to grow, and her inspiration and creativity evolve.
Atusa has always had a great connection with the female body, back when she was in school, she would sketch away naked women in her notebook. A few years ago, the artist used to go swimming quite often, it was in that safe space that she began to properly sketch the other women that would go to the pool to learn to swim. In doing so, Atusa found her calling. She always finds beauty and grace in nudity, without adding unrealistic elements.
In her series of paintings, we can see very common situations, in the sketch "Ikea beds and false Uggs" we can find a woman reading in bed, despite the nudity, eroticism is not the goal, and it shows. The same can be said for "Prepare to go nowhere", or "Brown Boots" where we find two girlfriends laughing totally naked except for the brown boots. Alluding to the beauty of the moment, a carefree, natural, rendition of the female form, notably set apart from the sexual undertones that often permeate depictions of an unclad female body.
Undoubtedly a great revelation, and an artist who has given much to talk about. Atusa Jafari, at only 21 years old, has already been recognized as the part of the new generation of female artists, and her message is very clear to us: naturalness is the most valuable thing, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, a distinctive feminine empowerment movement takes place in her work.
“We need to change it by doing something about it. Every day I'm painting, planning, and doing exhibitions – that's my way of doing something about it. I'm sick of everyone just saying that only 2% of artists are women – we need to work to change it. " – Atusa Jafari for Missoma magazine.
