Talking Art, Healing & Honesty with Anna Burgess
- Imogen Leonard
- Nov 12
- 7 min read
Originally from London, now living in Glasgow, artist Anna Burgess creates work that feels as raw and empathic as herself. Anna's self-taught journey began as a teenager when she started sketching as a method of trying to make sense of emotions. Since then Anna has developed a deeply personal style rooted in ecofeminism, compassion, and honesty. Alongside painting, she works with people living with dementia, leads creative workshops, and is training to become a yoga teacher - all threads connected by her belief in art as a form of healing, expression and connection.
What is your favourite place in Glasgow to get some peace or make you feel recharged?
I try to go to the barras when I have Glasgow blues and feel grumpy that it’s rarely sunny. The chaos and energy always reminds me why I love it here so much.
Are you a Spring/Summer or Autumn/winter person?
Definitely a Spring/Summer person, I’m by far happiest when I’m bare foot and outside most of the day!
Talking Art, Healing & Honesty with Anna Burgess
You mentioned you started painting and drawing as a teenager to help channel your emotions, can you recall the first time you realised it could be more than just a pastime?
I don’t think it was until after uni when I was life modelling a lot and around arty people all the time that I started to take myself a bit more seriously, up until then it was just something I loved to do for my own sanity.
As a self-taught painter, what has your learning process looked like over the years? Have you ever experienced any moments of wanting to give up?
I’ve been quite slow and gentle with my process, getting really into one medium at a time, it’s been important not to force anything. For so long I was just working on one painting at a time in the evening. I think the closest I ever came to giving up was when I was just trying to make art that people would buy. I was skint and it was my main income outside of life modelling, so I did a lot of markets and tried to produce more ‘palatable’ art. I was really bad at it and didn’t make much money anyway! I’ve since let that go and I’m just trying to tap into my voice more with my work, even if not everybody wants to put it in their living room!
You have a very recognisable style. Has your style naturally evolved over time or have you consciously pushed yourself to experiment with new techniques etc?
More than pushing myself I think I’ve just explored different curiosities. The big one for me was trying skin tone in oil paint for some reason but I find trying new techniques make the process more fun and surprising! In the last year I have been researching different techniques more and experimented with some specific processes that some of my favourite artists use, I guess to see where I fit in. Nicola Sleeth and Aleah Chapin have been my most recent inspirations, but I find I always go off track at some point!
You described painting as therapeutic, what does the process from start to finish feel like to you on an emotional level?
The start feels quite exciting, I’m not a neat painter at all and probably make things much harder for myself because I work a lot out on the canvas, but that’s really fun and intuitive. This process is also influenced by my mood and energy. Things start slowly coming together but it’s almost like the painting holds on to that energy and what I was feeling. Sometimes I’ll look at a painting from years ago and feel a nostalgic pang of whatever was going on at the time. I don’t really feel too attached to my paintings once they’re done, I’m happy to see them off to a loving home. For me it’s really about the process more than the outcome.
You noted you’re very passionate about feminism and environmentalism and both influence your work. Do any specific experiences, books, people influence you?
TW: the following answer mentions sexual violence, sexual assault.
Books like Women Who Run With The Wolves, If Women Rose Rooted, R*pe of the wild, have really influenced my work, ecofeminist thought in general just really resonates with me. I don’t have to search far for these ideas though as a lot of them come from my own experiences as a woman and growing up as a girl. Things which in some spaces are still quite taboo but completely overpowering to experience like sexual violence, shame, endometriosis and menstruality, are all common themes in my work.
Being an empathic and sensitive person, do you think this shapes how you approach a canvas?
Definitely, without painting I would find it much harder to make sense of the world around me and my experiences. I think it makes me try to walk the line between expressing myself and harsher realities whilst still trying to do it in a compassionate way, especially if I’m working with a life model, I try to communicate with them and send updates of my work and any ideas I have to ensure they’re on board with how I’m depicting them. I don’t want to trigger folk. This is really hard and sometimes my work just is confrontational, I try to soften it with words and extend some love.
As a life model, you’re often the subject of art as well as a creator, do you think this has shifted your perspective on creativity and/or body image?
It has one hundred percent shifted my perspective on body image in general. I think everyone should try it, especially if you have been socialised as a girl, it’s almost impossible not to be self conscious about your body unless you’ve done a lot of unraveling. Life modelling teaches you to just exist in your body, you can’t always control it. I’ve modelled naked on my period, bloated, ill, super hairy, gassy! Whatever it is, after a certain point I just think ‘fuck it.’ Everyone drawing is far more concerned with their art than whatever I’m insecure about. In terms of creativity, I’ve always seen the body as such a beautiful means of expression. I was in love with life drawing long before I modelled, that’s why I wanted to try it.
You mentioned you’re about to start training to be a yoga teacher, do you believe there is a connection between art and yoga as practices of healing or self-expression?
The more I practice both, the more I try to pay attention to the similarities. They both require a certain authenticity, commitment and honesty. The days I really struggle to meditate or commit to hatha practice are also the days that I can’t really get into my paintings or procrastinate a lot. Personally, I need them both in different ways and different times to feel grounded and process my emotions and experiences. Also just to play!
You also lead creative workshops, in what ways does this form of teaching influence your art and vice versa?
I mainly lead workshops for people who don’t think they’re any good at art, this comes up all the time. So it’s really important for me to encourage people and explore lots of different ways to make art, and deconstruct why they think they’re not good at it. The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the process so I love leading exercises where we just make a colourful mess. I try to bring that same energy and looseness into my paintings, so leading these workshops serves as a great reminder to let myself be curious.
You painted a piece dedicated to Gisele Pelicot, how can art create space for dialogue around pressing social/political issues?
I think when done authentically and from the heart, art is a hugely important tool to create space for conversation. Especially seeing how polarised we are at the moment, art can step in and lead with feeling and empathy. With the painting I did for International Women’s Day of Gisele Pelicot, I was inspired by Nina Simone talking about the artist’s duty to reflect the times back to us, that’s why I painted Gisele framed in a mirror. I was overwhelmed by the emotional response that I received from that work, it was clear that her story and words had deeply affected so many people and so making space for dialogue and action through art is crucial.
You’re currently working on a big ecofeminist project for an exhibit, what would be your dream exhibition concept and collaborator?
I really want to get some dancers involved! Some parts of the show are a little bit somber, and I feel like soft and expressive movement would complement them so well. But my dream collaborator would be Aurora. One of the paintings for the show is inspired by her song ‘The seed’ and I listen to it all the time whilst painting, so I want everyone to feel that energy too.
What is one thing you hope people take away from seeing your work?
I really just want people to feel a little bit seen or less alone. I don’t make work around difficult subjects to trigger anyone, it’s just I know that I have been helped so much with my own healing by other people’s creative expression, it can help us to process and understand ourselves better. And if my paintings don’t resonate with you, I hope that it makes you think a little bit more empathetically about what people might be going through.
Quick Fire round
Who is your favourite feminist?
I’m sorry I can’t pick one person. Laura Bates and Jameela Jamil are two people I always come back to!
When you sit down to paint, what’s the first thing you do?
I have so many works on the go at the moment so the first step is sitting down and looking around my studio for a while, usually one painting draws me in more than the others so I let that feeling lead me. From then I just retouch my palette if needed and go!
Do you listen to music whilst you paint? If so, what's on the playlist?
Yes! At the moment I’m listening to a lot of CMAT, this means I need a lot of dance breaks though. If I really want to focus, I prefer more chilled out music like Lisa O’Neill or Pippa Blundell, or a podcast. I'm rather obsessed with Blindboy at the moment.
Check out Anna's beautiful work, and keep your eyes peeled for her future exhibit
A big thank you to Anna for agreeing to do this feature with me, your vulnerability in this is so appreciated!
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