Soft Power: Tiana Traffas Uses Colored Pencils to Explore Feminine Power

Tiana Traffas is a self-taught artist from the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Major sources of inspiration for her work include taboos, the psychology of motherhood, myths, and archetypes. She draws from the deep well of feminism and her own experience to create her colorful artworks.

This drawing is from a series of work that explores the intersections of sensuality, feminism, and the body:

Soft Power (colored pencil on paper)

“How can I make figurative works without the restrictions of the male gaze? In these drawings, I want freedom from the constraints of patriarchy and religious indoctrination. My interest in the feminine archetype informs this work. Women in art are depicted as the exploitable maiden, the sexy Venus who exists to be looked upon, the compliant mother who gives up her own identity to raise another, or the monster who defies convention and is feared for it (often a "crone.")

Figurative work often defaults to the maiden/Venus archetype. It is consumable and for male sexual gratification. But often, depictions of women owning their sexual power, their bodies, and their experience, those images are censored and devalued. I am much more interested in depicting women as they are: complex, fleshed out, whole. These are the beginning steps of knitting together the female nude in a web of milk, moonblood, and yoni nectar, finding the magic in shedding what doesn't work and uncovering what feels authentic. I hope these inspire you to find comfort in your devouring, orgasmic, animalistic, monster of a body.”

‘Soft Power’ was featured in Issue No. 8: THE FUTURE IS FAT.