Anna Lion
This body of work explores female muscularity as both physical fact and cultural provocation. Muscle on a woman’s frame remains contested territory—celebrated in some spaces, pathologized or sexualized in others, and rarely permitted to simply exist. I am interested in that tension: the way strength is gendered, the discomfort it can produce, and the freedom that lies on the other side of that discomfort.
The figures in this project are not softened or apologised for. They flex, rest, intertwine, consuming their woodland site. I aim to destabilise the idea that there is a single “natural” way for a woman’s body to look.
The sculptures begin through close observation of muscular bodies, moving from sketches and small clay maquettes into full-scale forms. This gradual process allows the body to be translated through repetition, layering, and accumulation, echoing the labour and discipline often associated with physical training itself. The scale of the sculptures encourages the viewer to physically confront the bodies rather than passively observe them.
The figures in this project are not softened or apologised for. They flex, rest, intertwine, consuming their woodland site. I aim to destabilise the idea that there is a single “natural” way for a woman’s body to look.
The sculptures begin through close observation of muscular bodies, moving from sketches and small clay maquettes into full-scale forms. This gradual process allows the body to be translated through repetition, layering, and accumulation, echoing the labour and discipline often associated with physical training itself. The scale of the sculptures encourages the viewer to physically confront the bodies rather than passively observe them.
Materiality is central to the work. Constructed from layered cardboard, the sculptures exist in a state of tension between strength and fragility. Cardboard is lightweight, vulnerable, and often disposable, yet through repetition and scale it becomes structurally imposing. I am interested in how this mirrors the bodies depicted: forms that appear powerful yet remain subject to scrutiny, projection, and cultural instability. The exposed layers and surfaces retain traces of construction, allowing the works to embody both resilience and vulnerability simultaneously.
Ultimately, this work is less about muscularity itself than about permission: who gets to be strong, who gets to look strong, and what happens when a body refuses the shape it was assigned.
Ultimately, this work is less about muscularity itself than about permission: who gets to be strong, who gets to look strong, and what happens when a body refuses the shape it was assigned.