By Alice Wilson
Artist’s statement: My work looks at “ugliness” and how it is elided with scariness. I am interested in how beauty is weaponized against women, to trap and distract us. I draw ugly, scary monsters and then write sweet little vignettes to accompany them. For example, I draw the creature called Pamela who has just enjoyed watching a Cash in the Attic omnibus. Or the toothless monster called Heather, who is thrilled because she has just learned how to purl stitch.
Through inviting a reconsideration of the attributes that we subconsciously assign to the ugly, I hope to bring a sense of warmth and connection to ugliness in ourselves and each other. My aim is that this can slightly loosen the chokehold of the cult of beauty.
Alice Wilson is completing her PhD in York, U.K., on women who build tiny houses. Her illustrations were selected for a feature in Gaze Magazine in 2021 and were featured on the cover of WrongDoing Magazine in 2022.