Women should be able to express their sexual desire without being labelled a "slut", says Claudia Chanhoi. The artist uses illustrations to normalise sexual conversations in Hong Kong
Saucy illustrations of breasts, bums and genitals populate Claudia Chanhoi’s Instagram account @brainxeyes. It’s a feast for the eyes, sure, but stop scrolling long enough to read her often thought-provoking captions, and you’ll see where the brain part comes in.
“It feels quite liberating to send a message through my art,” says Chanhoi. “I never really like to be completely explicit; I tend to play subtly with body parts and use different objects to represent ideas.”
Art always came naturally to Chanhoi, who was raised in Hong Kong in a Catholic family where discussing sex was taboo. While studying at the London College of Communication, she experienced her first serious relationship as well as some harassment. She devoted her final project to the sexual objectification of women—and followed that theme when she launched her Instagram in 2016 as a creative outlet while working as a graphic designer.
“My early message was to be able to express your sexual desire as a woman, especially in Hong Kong, where women are asked to be desirable visually—we have to be beautiful and sexy—but we can’t desire sex because then you would be a slut,” she says.
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Her work caught the attention of Rain Lily, a sexual violence NGO that enlisted Chanhoi for a fundraising project. She created pieces blending female anatomy with botanical elements like flowers and bamboo. For a follow-up collaboration on periods, she illustrated a curvaceous waist and a glass of red wine placed discreetly below the belly button, with a little spillage on a neon pink table. “Shame shame,” she posted to Instagram, “body is shameful, we have to hide!”
