Artist Feature: Alexandra Leese

Born in Hong Kong, Alexandra Leese creates timely and compelling visual narratives that draw on her cultural background, and her acute sense of color and composition. Leese trained at Chelsea College of Art and London College of Fashion, interning with photographer and film maker Wing Shya. Leese’s Boys of Hong Kong book (2018) and exhibition installation - most recently shown at FOAM, Amsterdam - visually chronicles her reconnection with her Chinese childhood, and the dynamic of the female gaze through her examination of masculinity in contemporary China. Yumi and The Moon is an internationally-coveted zine that Leese self-published in 2019, reimagining the folkloric Japanese story of Kayuga Hime through a female lens, and her most recent book Me + Mine published in December 2020 is  a series of Nudes of Women around the world, shot remotely during the global lockdown of 2020. She captured 44 women in the comfort of their homes, resulting in a dreamy and diverse tribute to womanhood, entirely free from the objectifying constraints of the male gaze.  

Leese’s commissioned work is gaining momentum, and she has recently worked with brands including Asai, Marc Jacobs, Helmut Lang, Calvin Klein, iD, Dazed and Self Service. 

Q: Share something you learned in creating these images

AL: I would like to quote the last paragraph from the foreword of my recent book Me+ Mine which I wrote with @Xoai_Pham, as I think this illustrates perfectly what I learned while doing this project.

 Across many regions and cultures, though it doesn't represent every kind of body and beauty out there, this project is us sending nudes to ourselves — not to be consumed but to be revered. Each individual has a unique, evolving relationship with their body. What we have in common is being alongside one another on the path to loving our bodies how we choose, despite the battles we may faceSo we dream along our journeys.

We touch each hair, each fold, each wrinkle, and each scar, remembering that we belong to ourselves.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. 

Q: What does being a feminist mean to you?

AL: Being a feminist means doing all you can to celebrate and enhance the freedom of women.

But also understanding our freedom is inextricably intertwined with one another, and so being a feminist includes fighting all forms of oppression and inequality. 

See more on alexandraleese.com and follow @alexleese