Emma Hack Artist

Living canvas

Emma Hack first put brush to skin when she was 15 years old.

With an infatuation for her art, Emma’s 20-year career has evolved from beginnings earning extra money on the weekend as a children’s face painter to qualified hairdresser and make-up artist, body illustrator and visual artist of world acclaim.

When she left school, Emma studied makeup artistry where she was encouraged to take her face painting further down the body.

“At the time, there was no internet, and reference materials were pretty basic so I thought I was the only one doing full body painting.”

When she was 18, Emma body painted lingerie on a friend, who worked at Pizza Hutt with her, for a competition. The entry made a definite impression on the judges as all other entrants had stuck to face painting.

“Adelaide is the city of churches and everything is very appropriate here so it was very full on for that time. Even now people come up to me and say, ‘We thought she was wearing stockings and an outfit’. It took me a long time to get my art out there for that fact but luckily the media nurtured what I do.”

Shortly after, Joanne Gair body painted Demi Moore for the cover of Vanity Fair and Emma realised there were others like her out there making a career out of body art.

“I’m amazed by how much body art has evolved around the world,” Emma says. “There was a time when I could safely say my work was up there with the best 4-5 people in the world. Now I look at what’s coming out and I’d say my art is still up there but as far as application goes, there are some amazing artists out there with this young passion for it.”

Emma has now taken a much more hands-on approach to the final product of her art.

“For me now it’s about the photographic image that I create at the end. It’s not solely about the body painting anymore.”

Emma began exploring the notion of camouflage, drawing inspiration from model Verushka who in the 1960s and 70s painted herself into rustic walls and naturalistic settings. When Emma discovered the iconic Florence Broadhurst range of wallpaper designs, it provided the perfect inspiration to take her art to the next level.

“The idea for blending the wallpapers evolved over four years,” she explains. “I’d been looking at Verushka’s work where she blends herself into rustic walls and I wanted to try it. I walked into a home-ware store and they had Florence Broadhurst wallpapers and that was it. Things come to you at the right time and when they do you need to be in a position to pick them up and go with it.”

So began the Wallpaper collection of images that span from 2005-2008, and it was during this time that Emma began photographing her own images. Her first ever wallpaper camouflage took 19 hours straight to paint with more recent works taking anywhere from 8-14 hours, depending on the complexity of the design. It is an exhausting process for artist and subject alike; however the results are nothing short of spectacular.

“My models are required to stand still for a very long time and it can be quite painful for them. I find that guys really struggle with channelling with their energy correctly; a lot of them faint. I tend to use the same models for the longer projects because they know what they’re getting themselves in for.”

The strangest request she ever received was from a man who asked her to paint his face.

“We were chatting on the phone about how I was going to do it and he kept asking, ‘Do you think anyone will recognise me? If I was photographed, would anyone recognise me?’ I told him ‘At the end of the day it’s still you and you’ll still be recognisable’, and he sort of freaked out and that was the end of the conversation. I’m not sure if he wanted to rob a bank or what.”

And will she ever use herself for a canvas?

“I thought about it when I was younger but not really now that I’m a bit bigger. I’ve never been incredibly comfortable with my body which is ironic considering I ask other people to take their clothes off and feel comfortable in front of me. I’ve got bits that rub and for body painting, keeping it clean, I prefer to use a slightly neater looking body. Not having things like big boobs means the paint doesn’t rub and you can maintain the look for as long as possible.”

www.emmahackartist.com