She Draws Herself Into It

Yulia Nefedova draws dirty pictures of herself. That’s the short version. The longer version is that she’s a Russian artist whose illustrations place her own body—and the bodies of people she knows—into explicitly erotic situations, and the line work is strong enough that you have to engage with it as art before you can dismiss it as anything else. The eroticism is the point, but the craft is what makes the point land.

Dutch photographer Sander Dekker met her in Amsterdam years ago and shot her for his ongoing photography project. Yulia is a Russian artist with critical views on consumer culture, he said—which sounds politely understated given what she actually draws. She messaged him out of nowhere one day to say she was back in Amsterdam for a few days, so he went to her apartment. The resulting photographs were made in collaboration with agency Sticks & Stones.

The playful and erotic tensions Yulia brings to her drawings often reflect her actual personality, Dekker said about the shoot. I believe him. There’s a consistency between the drawings and the person the photographs suggest—someone who understands that desire is simultaneously funny and serious, and that putting yourself literally in the picture is the most honest way to make that argument. Making yourself the subject is a form of control. What she does with that control is a choice she clearly enjoys making.