Art as Medicine in the Age of Machines marks the conclusion of my series The Gaze Reclaimed. After seven episodes honouring women artists who fought to be seen, I turn to our present reality: a time where human creativity is once again at risk of erasure.

Today, billions of artworks are silently scraped into datasets without consent, feeding machines that produce hollow images. Yet art is not a product of code. Art is presence, resonance, and transformation. Science now gives us the words—neuroaesthetics—to confirm that art regulates our nervous systems, heals trauma, and strengthens our humanity.

This is not just history. It is our future. And the choice is clear: reduce art to pixels, or reclaim it as medicine for the soul.

Art Talk has evolved in Brushstrokes of Being: Art is the Cradle of Our Soul

0:00 Intro | Brushstrokes of Being
1:05 The Gaze Reclaimed – past to present
6:11 What is art, really?
9:40 Neuroaesthetics: art as medicine
13:08 Painting, Photography & AI – three different entities
17:55 Children, creativity, and the danger of neglect
22:12 Why artists matter now more than ever
32:48 Closing | Reclaiming the gaze

Camille Claudel was more than Rodin’s lover, more than the “madwoman” silenced in an asylum for thirty years. She was a visionary sculptor who gave marble and bronze a pulse, sensual, intimate, and profoundly human.

In this episode of Art Talk: The Gaze Reclaimed Part Seven: Camille Claudel, we explore:

To reclaim Camille Claudel is to honour all the women who reshaped art against impossible odds. Her gaze, once silenced, returns to us now, sensual, powerful, eternal.

Listen, reflect, and share this episode with someone who loves art, history, and the reclamation of forgotten voices.

“To paint is to love again.” Louise-Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s words define a life devoted to courage, beauty, and creation. Born in 1755, she overcame the barriers of a male-dominated art world, teaching herself by copying the works of Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Dyck. By fifteen, she was a professional portraitist. In this episode, I discuss Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun: The Gaze Reclaimed, Part 6.

Appointed official portraitist to Marie Antoinette, Vigée-Lebrun captured not only the likeness but the humanity of her subjects. Her Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, painted at twenty-seven, radiates joy and audacity: palette and brushes in hand, golden curls crowned with a straw hat adorned with flowers and a feather, her gaze meets ours across centuries, declaring creative freedom and personal triumph.

Exiled during the French Revolution, she travelled across Europe: London, Vienna, Italy, painting royalty, expanding her style, and leaving a legacy that empowered women artists for generations. Over six hundred works survive, and her memoirs chronicle her life, offering insight into her resilience, skill, and advocacy for women in art.

Vigée-Lebrun’s story is one of audacity, self-expression, and reclamation of the gaze; a timeless inspiration for all artists.

In this episode of The Gaze Reclaimed Part 5: Berthe Morisot, we celebrate the 100th episode of Art Talk. Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) was not just a painter — she was one of the most influential female Impressionists in art history. Known as the Mother of Impressionism, she transformed the way women and modern life were depicted on canvas, bringing radical lightness, liberation, and emotion to a movement still dominated by men.

Born in Bourges, France, Morisot grew up in a Parisian family that encouraged her artistic ambitions — an unusual gift for a woman of her time. She trained privately, since women were barred from the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts until the 1870s. Her teachers recognised her exceptional skill, and she moved from one to the next, each advancing her mastery of traditional techniques.

In her journal, she once wrote:

“I do not think any man would ever treat a woman as his equal, and it is all I ask because I know my worth.”

Morisot exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1865, moving in the same circles as Manet, Degas, Monet, and Renoir. Claude Monet famously remarked after meeting Berthe and her sister Edma, “What a shame they are not men.” It was a stark reminder of the gender barriers she faced.

Despite societal limitations — she could not roam the streets of Paris unaccompanied or linger in cafés observing life — she carved her own path. Her Berthe Morisot paintings often depict women and children in luminous gardens, interiors, and domestic spaces.

Morisot’s work dissolved the boundaries between figure and background, with loose, gestural brushwork that captured fleeting moments. Critics sometimes called her “the angel of the incomplete” for her open, fragmentary compositions — though this was not always meant as praise. Today, this quality is recognised as part of her radical approach.

Two self-portraits from 1885 stand out.

Irish writer George Moore once said of her:

“Her pictures are the only pictures painted by a woman that could not be destroyed without creating a blank in the history of art.”

Throughout her career and posthumously, Morisot’s work has been shown internationally:

Morisot’s art captures the restrictions and quiet rebellions of women’s lives in 19th-century France. She worked within imposed boundaries but turned them into spaces of innovation. Removing her from the story of Impressionism would leave a gap no other artist could fill.

In this episode of Art Talk, part 4 of The Gaze Reclaimed, we explore the extraordinary life and legacy of Edmonia Lewis — the first African-Native American sculptor to gain international recognition in the 19th century.

Born in a fractured America, orphaned young, and wrongfully accused of poisoning classmates at Oberlin, Lewis defied every expectation. She carved her path — literally — from Boston to Rome, to London, where she passed away after being gravely ill. She was creating neoclassical sculptures that challenged the white Western gaze. Her work reclaimed space for Black and Indigenous narratives long erased from the canon.

If you’re an artist, curator, educator, or simply someone who believes in reclaiming forgotten voices, this episode is for you. 

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In Episode 98 of Art Talk, we explore the extraordinary life of Elisabetta Sirani, the forgotten Baroque Prodigy. A 17th-century Baroque artist from Bologna who defied social norms to become one of the first professional female painters in Europe.

Born into an artistic family in 1638, Sirani took over her father’s studio by age 17, produced over 200 paintings before her death at 27, and became the first woman in history to open her studio to female students. Her bold depictions of women, such as Judith and Timoclea of Thebes, challenged the passive, decorative roles assigned to women in art and society, portraying them instead as courageous, intelligent, and morally empowered.

This episode of The Gaze Reclaimed examines how Sirani’s legacy reshaped the visual narrative of women in art—and why she deserves renewed attention today. Perfect for art historians, educators, feminists, and those curious about overlooked women in art history.

Welcome back to Art Talk, and Part 2 of The Gaze Reclaimed. In this episode, we delve into the extraordinary life of Artemisia Gentileschi, who transformed the depiction of women in Western art.

From the Renaissance to today, visual culture has shaped—and often violated—women’s bodies. Art historian Catherine McCormack critiques this long history, revealing how so-called masterpieces often masked political power and patriarchal control behind myth and beauty.

But Artemisia changed the rules. A survivor, a painter, and a rebel, she reimagined the gaze—offering empathy, resistance, and power through brush and body.

Learn how Gentileschi reclaims biblical heroines and inserts herself as the protagonist—subverting the male gaze and reasserting the female subject.

Topics covered:

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Episode 96 of Art Talk | New Series Premiere

Welcome to The Gaze Reclaimed, a bold new series exploring how women—past and present—are reclaiming the right to see and be seen on their own terms.

In this deeply personal opening episode, artist and cultural philosopher Artsy invites you into an intimate reflection on self-portraiture, vulnerability, and the quiet rebellion of women who dared to depict themselves throughout history. From Artemisia Gentileschi to Faith Ringgold, we begin to unearth the hidden power of the female gaze.

This isn’t just art history—it’s a movement.
A reclamation of vision. Of voice. Of self.

Download your free self-portrait guide and join the community conversations.
 New course launches in September.

Watch this episode on YouTube

In episode 95, the last episode in the series of Why Old Masters Matter To Artists Today 3. In this episode I go in learning how to see: Style, Technique and….Secrets, with Rembrandt on my side.

Why Old Masters Matter to Artists II: Leonardo da Vinci & the Power of Observation

In Episode 94 of Art Talk, we dive deep into the timeless art of observation—through the eyes of one of history’s greatest minds: Leonardo da Vinci.

This episode explores how Da Vinci’s approach to seeing the world can radically transform your own creative process. In an age of instant gratification and visual overload, learning to slow down and truly observe is more powerful—and more necessary—than ever.

We’ll unpack how Leonardo’s method of deep observation shaped his art, and how modern artists can apply these same principles to create more intentional, meaningful work. This conversation invites you to ask better questions, see beyond the surface, and move past merely copying what’s in front of you.