At first I thought Anoushka Akel’s paintings were bodies. Small, square bodies made of canvas. Oiled, rubbed, stained and stroked so they might take on the buttery smoothness of skin. And like fleshly bodies, these canvas bodies show signs of wear and tear (AKA living), are bruised, marked and flayed, scraped back and painted over; purple skin rubbed with balm, treated carelessly and then laboriously healed.
The first time I visit her Auckland studio, Akel is tenderly buffing the grainy, reddish surface of a painting with a soft cloth dipped in linseed oil. The studio is new to her, one of the many boons she has been afforded as the 2018 recipient of The C Art Trust Award―a grant of $50,000 bestowed upon an outstanding mid-career artist, enough to support…