Painting empowerment

A Wellington-based university student is struggling to keep up with painting commissions after sharing her nude painted self-portrait online.

Maddy Songhurst (21), having never painted before, decided to paint her own nude portrait during the lockdown period. After sharing her work on an online inspiration thread, more than 200 young women both within New Zealand and internationally have commissioned her to do the same for them.

The Wellington science student said she couldn’t believe the response. “I really enjoyed doing my own, so when people started wanting me to do theirs I was over the moon, so confused, but stoked at the same time.”

Songhurst began charging clients $15, but has since brought it up to $35 per piece. Her clients receive both a digital and physical copy of their portrait.‍

Songhurst said her clients had to allow themselves to be vulnerable in the return for an empowering result.

“I think it’s a very vulnerable position to be in, sending your nude photographs online to a stranger you have never met before, for her to then interpret as she sees it then recreate it in an art format. But I think when they get it back it makes them feel empowered to see their body unchanging and in that moment.”

The majority of Songhurst's clients remain anonymous and only she knows the face behind her paintings.

Maggie Grey, however, wasn’t afraid to be named when Songhurst began promoting her work and said it was one of the best experiences she’s had.‍

“I had never done anything remotely similar to that before which at first did make me feel unsure about it. But taking the photos for her to use surprisingly ended up being quite a bit of fun.

“Once I got the painting back I loved it. It was a personal and empowering feeling I hadn’t felt about myself before. I felt confident and even comfortable to show it to people because I feel like all her paintings aren’t very sexualised.”

Songhurst said the responses she was getting from her clients was “heart-warming”.

“I actually did one portrait of a girl from Scotland who I had never met before, and it wasn’t until long after I had finished her piece that she got in contact with me and told me of the difference it had made. She told me she’d actually been struggling with an eating disorder for some time, so seeing her body in that form, was a huge help to her recovery and body dysphoria.”

Songhurst plans to grow her venture and begin marketing initiatives throughout a variety of different mediums.