Spoiled explores the historical association between fruit and femininity to examine the commodification of women under patriarchal ideals.
For centuries, fruit has symbolized femininity, fertility, temptation, and desire. In Western art and literature, for instance, fruits like apples have became synonymous with Eve and the “fall of man,” positioning the female body as both alluring and dangerous. Peaches, cherries, pomegranates, and figs have similarly been used as metaphors for sexuality, youth, and reproduction. Fruit is celebrated when it is ripe, beautiful, and untouched, but once it’s gone bad, it is quickly discarded.
The piece features a pair of bruised legs, suspended in an undefined blue space, existing as both body and object. A fruit sticker adhered to the thigh references the way women’s bodies are labelled, marketed, and consumed, while the bruises mirror the blemishes that cause fruit to be discarded. They symbolize the ways women are often perceived as having lost value through aging, sexual experience, motherhood, or simply failing to conform to narrow standards of beauty.
The bandages on the feet acknowledge the visible and invisible costs of femininity: the pain endured to satisfy beauty standards, and the shame imposed when women no longer embody ideals of purity or perfection.
Slipped around the ankles, the underwear occupies a space between vulnerability and liberation, leaving viewers to question whether the exposure is imposed or reclaimed. It also becomes a symbol of the cultural fixation on female purity, where intimacy is often transformed into a measure of value.
Ultimately, Spoiled confronts the cultural belief that a woman’s worth is conditional, tied to their perceived purity, youth, and desirability. It asks viewers to reconsider who defines a woman’s value, and why those standards have been accepted for so long.
Spoiled
"Spoiled"
Michelle Johnston
July 2026
Acrylic paint and oil pastel on canvas
12 x 24 inches
My Proccess
Unlike much of my previous work, Spoiled began with a fully formed image in my mind. I often start paintings with only a general theme or feeling I want to explore, allowing the work to evolve naturally as I paint. With this piece, however, I knew from the beginning what I wanted to create. I felt like I could picture the legs hanging before I ever touched the canvas.
The composition was inspired by a scene from Jojo Rabbit in which Jojo discovers his mother's body, seeing only her hanging legs. I really liked the visual and how so much emotion could be conveyed even in the absence of the rest of the body. I also felt that by removing the woman's identity and showing only her legs, the figure becomes anonymous and universal, allowing the viewer to project their own meaning onto her.
The red underwear became the visual focal point of the painting. Against the muted colour palette, it immediately draws the viewer's eye while introducing an element of discomfort. I wanted viewers to question what they were looking at. Was the underwear intentionally lowered, or was the figure exposed against her will? That uncertainty creates conversations about consent, vulnerability, and our tendency to sexualize women regardless of context.
This interest was influenced in part by Evelina Silver's Dirty Minded series, which explores how ordinary moments in a woman's life are so easily interpreted as sexual. Her work made me question why society so often views women as inherently sexual beings, and how that perception shapes the way female bodies are represented and consumed.
Further, although the concept was clear from the beginning, the painting itself presented several technical challenges. Because the composition is so minimal, consisting primarily of the legs, every proportion was incredibly important. I felt like even the smallest inaccuracies were obvious. Initially, I worked from several unrelated reference images of legs, knees, and feet, but I quickly realized they weren't enough to create the pose I envisioned. Eventually, I recorded myself repeatedly jumping so I could use my own legs and feet as reference, allowing me to better understand how the body would naturally hang.
The feet proved to be the most difficult part of the painting. I had spent years practicing hands, but I realized I had rarely studied feet. Creating the illusion that they were hanging rather than standing required far more skill than I anticipated. At one point, frustrated with getting their scale wrong again, I placed my own foot directly onto the canvas and traced it. It was a strange solution, but one that reminded me how much larger feet actually are.
The background also evolved significantly throughout the process. My original plan was to create a bright sky filled with dramatic clouds, but as I painted, I felt like it competed with the figure for attention and softened the impact of the piece. Instead, I layered several translucent washes of deep blue paint, allowing traces of the original clouds to remain visible beneath the surface. The result created a quiet, undefined space that isolates the figure without distracting from it.
One of my favourite stages of the painting was adding the bruises. Using soft pastels, I studied my own bruises and observed the subtle variations of blue, purple, green, and yellow within them. Beyond their symbolic importance, I felt they added a lot of visual interest to the otherwise limited colour palette.
Ultimately, my goal was to create a piece that lingers with the viewer. I wanted Spoiled to provoke discomfort, encourage reflection, and invite conversations about the way women are viewed and treated in society.