‘Power Woman: Frances Cannon On The Power Of Artistic Expression’

Frances Cannon by Jessica Vander Leahy for whimn.com.au’s Power Women series…

“I'm defined as a 'fat woman' and I'm fine with that.”

"My body is. My body is. My body is. My body is. My body." That’s a poem by Frances Cannon.

“Every single piece starts with me,” the artist tells whimn.com.au by phone as part of our Power Women profile series as she strolls about her day in Melbourne. “I started drawing body positive stuff about six years ago now. I've always drawn but that's where I started drawing my own body, as opposed to the ‘ideal body’, and my career has come from there.”

The multidisciplinary queer Aussie illustrator and author, who primarily experiments with watercolour, gouache and ink, says the bulk of her works' recognition came from “looking at myself and seeing myself as beautiful and drawing”.

“I definitely didn't see any bodies like mine portrayed in like a positive light all through my upbringing, all through my teen years, and at least my early twenties,” the 26-year-old says. “I only a few years ago started seeing fat women portrayed in a good light, not just for comic relief, y’know?”

Sadly, we all do know what she’s talking about, don’t we?

So, sensitive to that familiar ache of sizest rejection, Frances drew what she didn’t see.

“I kind of created that context for myself and I started doing these drawings. And then started sharing them [on social media] and then they started gaining attention from there. So it was definitely like, it started out for me and then it went further than that which is so amazing, I'm very lucky.”

There’s more to this story. It was originally published on whimn.com.au — click the link if you want to read the whole yarn…