Elsa Rouy

Elsa Rouy (b. 2000; Sittingbourne, UK) creates semi-autobiographical paintings that use the figure to disrupt boundaries and explore multifaceted experiences of personhood.

The characters in her work consistently find themselves in situations that hover uneasily between suffering and pleasure. Rouy’s paintings address themes of femininity, control, destruction, desolation, evolution, and catharsis. Through this, she investigates and navigates the anxieties that come with having – and being aware of – one’s own body. Her work seeks to examine the dynamics of societal and internal power structures, as well as the fluidity of existence.