Artist Statement

Naked Dance

I paint my own naked body dancing in iridescent fleshy layers, while deconstructing my vulnerability as a human. I call it Naked Dance, using the term ‘naked’ both metaphorically and literally, as I explore the vulnerability of myself. 

I choreographed a dance to the song Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift, and filmed myself dancing it. The video is the first artwork within the project, and the muse for the following paintings. I chose the song because it is relatable to me in my experience of dealing with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) while navigating life as a woman and artist.

The song reveals the kind of evil thoughts that can keep one up at night, while battling your own ‘monster’ within, that often is one’s own worse enemy. In the video I am dancing in white underwear, on a pink rug, with a white sheet wrapped around me. The setting hints towards a bedroom - the space where evil thoughts can flourish.

The dance, that begins with me wrapped up in a sheet that gradually comes off, tells the story of the process of becoming awakened by one’s own thoughts while sleeping. The sheet covers most part of my body at the beginning of the performance while I move inside it, pointing towards the early stage of becoming awakened by one’s own thoughts while still asleep. The sheet gradually covers less skin, as one keeps on battling the thoughts while slowly leaving the sleep-state. Eventually the sheet is thrown off completely, as one is fully awake, still battling the same thoughts. So while the battle continues, I keep on dancing.

From screenshots of the dance video I create a large series of paintings. Displayed chronologically, like film reels, so that the viewer can get a sense of the story behind the dance. I draw myself naked in the paintings, although, I am in underwear in the video. Since most social media forbid nudity except in art - art is a form of clothing. I strip one layer of clothing off while putting another on. Testing the limits of how naked, or vulnerable, I can be.

Cecilia Ulfsdotter Klementsson