Kira Leigh is an artist whose work delves into the complexities of gender, sexuality, and the female body. Using the paranoiac method of creation inspired by Dali, Leigh seeks to exorcise personal anxieties and demons through her drawings and paintings. Her pieces often feature female nudes that challenge societal norms, such as being highly sexual but not sexualized, possessing body hair but still being attractive, and being objectified in a sexual situation but being physically unattractive.
Leigh’s depictions of the female form are a direct result of her life as a woman in an oppressive western cis-gendered Christian white male society. She employs bright, anime-inspired symbolism and color palettes, drawing inspiration from her early life as an anime addict. Her works often include anti-art materials such as highlighters, gel pens, glitter, and sharpie markers. Leigh also uses facial makeup to touch on the way females are held up to an unrealistic physical standard.
The artist’s version of the male gaze is how she honestly experiences it as a gross invention created to strip women of their inherent female power and reduce them to objects for use by heteronormative males. Leigh’s works are created from the heart, fueled by anxiety and depression, which she uses as a catalyst for her distaste of current societal standards and culture.
