A-Z of Emma Currie

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Interview by Ruby Staley

Have you always wanted to be an artist?
I was a pretty creative kid and a bit of a dreamer. Everyone told me to be realistic but I could never really imagine doing anything other than art in some capacity. I studied Fine Art at uni, but didn’t really start working for an audience until about a year ago.

Does your art pay the bills or do you have a side hustle?
Doing art full time is the ultimate goal.
At this stage I’m juggling a full time job as a coffee roaster in Melbourne, with my nights and weekends devoted to commis- sions and teaching occasional life drawing workshops. I’m also trying to expand my practice. Most artists I know have a second job too, but tend to keep it pretty quiet on social media for some reason. Sometimes I think that admitting you’re not making all your income from your art is tantamount to admitting failure, or not being taken seriously as an artist.

Your work is centred around ‘the feminine’. What women inspire you?
I’m mostly inspired by my own journey as a woman. Learning and evolving and becoming more comfortable with myself, my body and my ideas of womanhood. I also explore themes of sisterhood and the bonds shared between women. As a teen and throughout my early twenties I struggled with toxic female friendships. Finding women who were supportive and nourish- ing later on was a game changer. I think it’s important to encourage women, especially young girls, to embrace this sisterhood. These days I’m lucky to have many strong women in my life who inspire me and to constantly learn from.

Is there an artist whose work you don’t connect with?
I have a hard time connecting to male artists who explore the female body from a purely aesthetic standpoint. Art history shows that there is a strong past of objectification by male artists. So, it can feel a little inauthentic when contemporary cishet male artists solely focus on depicting the female form. So many Womxn are exploring this subject as a means of reclaiming the body from idealised standards of beauty, exploring the self in a time when femininity is in constant flux. That’s why I connect so strongly to female, trans and nonbinary perspectives.

What is one major lesson you have learnt over your artistic career?
Not to make comparisons. This is a hard one for me, especially on Instagram where you can fall into the trap of comparing your journey and methods with other artists. Instagram is an amazing platform for getting your art and ideas to a broader audience, but it’s easy to feel like no one is struggling or failing the way you are.

Acrylic or oil? Oil always. It’s lush and bright and easy to manipulate.

Portrait or Landscape? Portrait, I’m endlessly absorbed by humans.

Picasso or Van Gogh? Picasso. The art, not the man. He was famously misogynist but I have to admit, his cubist work has had a really big influence on me.

Biggest inspiration? People who are saying a big fuck you to convention, to standards, to what’s expected of them. People who embrace rejection and failure as an inevitable part of achieving success. People who are kind.

Find Emma on Instagram @emmacutrie