Jessie de Boe is an art director and visual artist from Dublin. Her work explores nudity and attitudes towards the body in a sometimes serious and sometimes silly way.
“Flesh It Out” is an ongoing project by Jessie de Boe. It is a simple exercise in which the audience are asked to draw themselves naked. The exercise is about taking a moment to think about what your body looks like. There is no right or wrong way to draw your body. Jessie asks people to draw anything they like: something silly, something serious or something sexy. All she asks of her audience is that while they draw, they have a think about why they've drawn their body in this way - is it shy, sad, sexy or celebratory? The goal of “Flesh It Out” is to use a fun and simple exercise to make people think, talk, and even laugh, about their naked body.
We talked to Jessie about this ongoing project and how it's shaped the image of her own body. Give the project a follow on Instagram to stay up to date on how the project unfolds and continues.
Hi there! My name is Jessie and I am an artist/designer from Ireland. As a sexual being I would say that I’m very comfort oriented. I can’t feel sexual unless I am comfortable – with myself, with my partner, with my surroundings. Call me old fashioned but I like beds, soft places and lots of laughter in my sex.
The Flesh It Out Project started as part of my graduate project from art college in 2017. My art practice was very photography, zine and interview driven.
My graduate show was called “Normalising Nudity” and I wanted an exercise that would loosen people up to talk about their naked bodies. It began as research and a fun little way to engage with people. I would ask them to draw themselves naked from memory, in whatever way they wanted. I also wanted them to take a moment to think about their body just as a visual object. The results were so interesting! The way that someone draws their body can tell you a lot about them.
At my graduate exhibition I created an area for people to draw their bodies and submit anonymously. I ended up with over 300 drawings from all different types of people. Since 2017 I have kept the project going in small groups and with friends. Last year I exhibited the Flesh It Out Project at an edition of Body Electric in Amsterdam. Myself and the Project were also part of a campaign for Yoni and I was one of their Game Changers in 2023.
Throughout the process of creating art with and about my body, I became much more comfortable in my own skin. Since this project started in 2017 I’m more neutral about my body image. Some things are better, somethings are floppier, but I still appreciate my body for everything it does for me. I think it’s really important to be able to laugh at your body. That’s another thing the Flesh It Out Project showed me – that bodies can be silly.
The point of the Flesh It Out Project is to get people to engage with their bodies and have a little fun. It’s something that I started, and still do, to connect with others and spark conversations. I don’t see it as some big thing or that it will take over the world. I finally made an Instagram for it (@flesh_it_out_project) and to be honest I’m not that active with it.
My goal is to make people smile when they engage with their body. For some people the exercise can be quite confronting and I can understand why. I think that so many people struggle with their body image especially when they’re young, myself included,. I wasted years of my young life hating my body, and that’s such a shame. I hope that the Flesh It Out Project will help to show all of the weird and wonderful bodies out there, and encourage more people to enjoy doodling themselves.
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