How Sophie Tea Art is painting the path to empowerment.
In just four years, 27-year-old British artist Sophie Tea has built an Instagram-based empire of artwork. Tea, who is the owner of a store in Carnaby and a studio in Sydney, is especially known for one central, powerful message: SEND NUDES!
Tea’s artwork encompasses everything from hearts, to abstracts, to rainbow coloured animals, but her nude paintings are undeniably iconic. Boobs, bums, cellulite, and stretch marks are frequently showcased in all of their beautiful glory, serving as a bright spark of colour for many of her 160,000 Instagram followers. Countless times I’ve been scrolling through my own Instagram timeline, flicking past influencers and models who contort themselves into nearly impossible poses in order to achieve a ‘perfect’ appearance, before Tea’s art provides a relieving outlet. Her artwork, like the images below, show that all bodies are beautiful, and that rolls, cellulite, lopsided boobs, mastectomies, and scars are all stunning and ideal muses. Looking through @sophieteaart, I see a consistent, uplifting message: all women are worthy of love and support, and no body shape is undesirable.
Nudes play a significant part of Tea’s branding, and the paintings on her Instagram are based on real nude photographs that women all around the world have submitted to her. The first day that she asked her followers to send nudes, she saw over 1000 photos being sent, and this number will have only increased over the last year as more and more women pluck up the courage to share their intimate photos. The process of submitting a nude to a stranger may at first seem daunting, but the incredible artwork that they are turned into is the perfect opportunity to see the beauty of your body from an artist’s perception. You might take a nude on your phone and have the courage to send it to Tea whilst mistakenly believing that your rolls are unflattering, and then later see your nude painted and realise that rolls are a stunning example of contrasting light and dark, like the first image above. The opportunity to send nudes is open to everyone (over the age of 18, of course), so women all around the world can feel the empowerment that comes with embracing your body in all it’s natural beauty.
Another way that Sophie Tea encourages empowerment through nudity is with her live ‘Send Nudes’ shows, which are known for their jaw-dropping scenes (in many cases, these are probably literal jaws dropping) across London. Women of all ethnicities, ages, sizes, and disabilities strip down and get hand-painted by Tea before showcasing their colourful beauty across the gallery and city. The most recent show took place in October, when Sophie was sadly stuck on the other side of the world in Sydney due to Covid lockdowns. Her team took the lead to manage this amazing feat, with bold strokes of every colour under the sun layered across the volunteers- who are known affectionately as ‘nudies’. The nudies then strutted their stuff all over the city, as a “huge f*ck you to unrealistic female body standards” as they donned only a pair of trainers and a Covid-compliant face mask in Tea’s signature shade of pink. Photos and videos taken by the public, who happened to be in the right place at the right time, showed a group of courageous, powerful women owning every inch of their body and baring it to the streets of London with pride. The energy from the official posts that Tea shared is off the charts: a blend of excitement, pride, and, most importantly, empowerment at seeing women reflective of every walk of life coming together to unapologetically display the magic of the female body to the general public and Tea’s followers.
In conclusion, Sophie Tea Art represents a brand that is innovative, revolutionary, and empowering, with a focus on ensuring that all women embrace every part of themselves. It’s a message that needs to be yelled from every rooftop in the world: love yourself in all your unique and unapologetic glory.
All images taken from @sophieteaart on Instagram
