In episode 51 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the incredible London-based illustrator and artist, POLLY NOR!

[This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!]

Best known for her dark and satirical drawings of women and their demons, Polly’s work interweaves themes of identity, sexuality, and emotional turmoil in her bold, bright, hilarious and disturbing semi-surrealist dream-like work.

Looking at sexuality and the female experience in the internet age, Polly’s incredibly imaginative drawings tell the story of often house-bound women and their demons in the form of an all-consuming devil-like character that appear in her hand-drawn and digital illustrations, sculptures and installations.

Creating worlds around them – whether that be from their bedrooms to the bottom of the sea – Polly’s all-consuming drawings have the ability to transport us to the deepest part of our minds, that feel more relatable than work found in any museums. 

Although graduating in 2011, Polly’s rise to fame has been predominantly online, having amassed over one million followers on Instagram with her art inspiring a generation of illustrators worldwide who are breaking taboos around the female experience. 

Having had numerous solo shows, as well as creating extraordinarily brilliant animations for Chelou’s Half to Nowhere video – genuinely the most incredible music video I have ever seen – and now narrative-based animations with director Andy Baker for WeTransfer, Polly’s characters, who are based on real, non-judgmental women going about their private life, are some of the most fascinating, complex, real, hilarious, I have ever witnessed in my life, and that is why I am so excited to say that she is the artist who we will be speaking to today!

FURTHER LINKS:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pollynor

Works discussed: https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtqUpYD0jX/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA5eYTkjuMO/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzOxN7bl9hH/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGr7Gu8DxXN/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CF7zWDLj_EX/

Chelou music video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgP9tzt9_Z8

Latest animation, 'How Have You Been?': 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjVCVdx8kKk&has_verified=1

Follow us:

Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel

Sound editing by Laura Hendry (@lghendry)

Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner

Music by Ben Wetherfield

https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/