An interview with artist Alexandria Coe
Growing up alone, body dysmorphia and balancing creativity with business.
Alexandria Coe is a London based artist who studied at Chelsea College of Art before completing her masters at Central Saint Martins. She draws inspiration from her studies in textile design and illustration and focuses on a simplified drawing practice as a root to connecting with an authentic relationship with the body.
How has self-discovery manifested in your life so far, does it play a part?
I feel like self-discovery found me first, like a hard lesson. But I feel that my mind is equally inquisitive. I find that often it’s not the things you manifest, but the things you work hardest at that seem to come into reality.
Can you touch upon your upbringing focussing on any parts of your growth that felt significant in creating who you are today?
I am a sort of single child- I have an autistic brother, for whom I feel deep unconditional love, but ultimately grew up alone. I learnt to sort of see the world through this lens of being on the outside. This can and has been deeply problematic, but there is also this part which allows you to grow new perspectives and learn deep empathy. It teaches you to take nothing for granted, that privilege is simply that, that your body and mind are incredible and fragile. I think true creativity requires the ability to place yourself in someone else’s shoes. You can’t make art purely from your own consciousness, you need to leave your ego behind. This is especially important when you want to make work with subjects around the body, relationships and feminism, if you can’t know what it is like to live on the outside how can you (or at least try) talk for the whole?
Alexandria by Thea Lovstad
Your work predominantly looks at the human form, along with physical and emotional relationships. How have you come to land upon these subjects?
I think when we do anything creative it has to hit our passion point, or perhaps our deepest fears- ultimately it comes from our own experiences. All these things have been very important in my life for good and bad reasons. I studied to be a yoga teacher a few years back, I saw everything as a connection and the way our emotional selves manifest in the physical. I studied my own anxiety and body dysmorphia, my own psychology and trauma and how it was always present within my physical being.
I think everything comes back to the body, especially as a woman.
I have seen you bring words into your work, was this a conscious evolution?
Language is often where we over place emphasis - I used to predominantly draw as I used to feel like linguistics get in the way of most forms of communication. But there is something powerful about writing statements or questions no one responds to. Whatever you feel in that moment is said- like marking a moment in time. It can be so releasing to write down those thoughts in our head, and letting them go.
You have managed to build a successful business from your passion and talent. From the outside, it seems like you have the dreamy pairing of a business mind and artistic ability. How have you managed to marry the two? I know that this can be such a stumbling block for many artists and you seem to handle the two elements effortlessly.
It isn’t easy- and you often learn the hard way by people treating you unprofessionally. I think it’s important to treat creativity and business as separate parts of you, which helps you to put up better boundaries and be less personal about the business side.
How is your inner landscape?
Chaotic and full of winding roads that lead in many directions.
Can you talk about the book that you published, LOVERS? How did that project come to be and what does it mean to you?
I left my old studio mid-lockdown (that first one) I took very little as I wanted a fresh start. The only thing I kept was these drawings. I had drawn throughout a tumultuous relationship, as a way to communicate how I had been feeling. Creating the book for me was closure- a symbolic way to close a chapter of my life. Although it seems bizarre and exhausting to rehash a very toxic part of my life which was very damaging- the drawings symbolise the lessons we learn. The fact every relationship is a mirror to ourselves and the dynamic of the feminine and masculine within us which we have to come to terms with.
Have you had a period in your life which could be described as a rock bottom?
I’ve had a few. It’s funny how it’s always in hindsight, never at the time do you feel it. When I was younger I had an eating disorder, it lasted ten years. I’d been hospitalised, and lost friends, family and connections but it wasn’t until I broke my shoulder due to my poor bodily care in my early twenties did I realise I had really hit the bottom. I realised that although I was no longer near death, I wasn’t living- I hadn’t lived in years and it’s an ironically hard thing to learn when you’ve starved yourself of pleasure, joy and opportunity. I knew I only had one choice.
Can you talk to your relationship with your physical body?
Like a wave. I’ve had a pretty poor relationship with my body. I’ve had periods of abusing it- being out of control from it- feeling disconnected and completely out of it. In the last few years I’ve felt better and more comfortable. Being comfortable naked has really helped. I think it’s just about learning to be in touch with your physical body- with movement, breath work. And getting to know your darker sides, the parts where you keep shame in the body and becoming at peace with it.
Favourite book Bonjour Tristesse - Francoise Sagan
Favourite podcast - How to fail with Elizabeth day
Favourite song Green arrow (yo la Tengo) whenever I need calm I put this on repeat.
How does joy show up for you? What brings you joy?
Joy for me is those brief moments, where you are out of your thinking brain and that moment of bliss. I think people strive too much to feel joy all the time, I think its good to accept that it’s a fleeting moment and it comes and goes. It can become toxic to want to hold onto that positive emotion all the time. Being out of your thinking brain is about being truly connected to your body, and often natural elements, like the sun, water, heat, and fresh air. Joy is lying in the sun, digging fingers into grains of sand, listening to the waves, hot sun on skin and hours passing by without a concern.