Risograph Prints
In this next phase of my project, I reworked the three original paintings into a series of risograph prints—transforming the work through a process of layering, distortion, and disruption. By overlaying stereotypical fashion advertisements—featuring thin, idealised bodies and hyper-curated Instagram figures such as Kylie Jenner—onto my expressive, painted representations of real women’s bodies, I created a visual collision between two opposing worlds: the unattainable fantasy of mainstream fashion media, and the raw, emotional truth of women’s lived experiences.
Layered Gaze: Risograph Prints as Visual Resistance
The use of risograph printing was intentional. Its slightly imperfect, grainy aesthetic reinforces the notion of distortion—not just in image quality, but in the way media distorts our perception of the body. Each print became an artefact of contradiction: where the glossy, dominant body ideals attempted to dominate the surface, the expressive marks of my original paintings refused to be erased. The painted figures still pulse through the overlays, asserting presence, identity, and resistance.
Layered Gaze: Risograph Prints as Visual Resistance
Choosing different colour palettes for each print allowed me to further differentiate the emotional and psychological tone of each piece. The layered colours speak to the complexity of identity—no single print is “correct” or final, just as no single version of the body should be seen as ideal. The risograph’s inherent limitations—misregistration, slight shifts in ink—mirrored the instability and unreliability of the ideals it was critiquing. These were not clean reproductions; they were visual disruptions, deliberately jarring the viewer into awareness.
Layered Gaze: Risograph Prints as Visual Resistance
This process also marked a shift in how I communicate critique. While my earlier paintings explored emotional realities more subtly, these prints use irony and confrontation. By directly placing iconic fashion imagery over vulnerable painted forms, I force a reckoning between what is projected onto women and what is truly felt.
Ultimately, these risograph prints function as visual essays—layered with critique, contradiction, and resistance. They are not just images; they are arguments. They ask the viewer to look harder, to question the seamless surfaces of media, and to consider what lies beneath the image-driven culture that continues to shape, shame, and shrink the idea of beauty.