Michelle Alexander - My Body / Your Object

Michelle Alexander, My Body / Your Object. Photo: Jonas Muller-Ahlheim

By KATE HOAG March 9, 2025

Michelle Alexander’s interdisciplinary art dares viewers to confront the uncomfortable truths about our bodies—how we see them, how they are seen, and how society shapes those perceptions. Her work is an exploration of self-image, trauma, and the politics of the female form, but it also invites an intimate dialogue between the art and its audience.

Raised in Montreal and now living in Chicago, Alexander’s creative journey didn’t follow a straight path. Initially a competitive ski racer, she found herself craving a creative outlet from the intense physical and psychological demands of the sport. “I always needed a release,” she recalls. Art became that outlet. Yet, it wasn’t until she attended the University of Miami for a BFA in painting and photography that she began to seriously pursue art. Still, the art world felt intimidating. “I felt like an imposter and I still do,” she admits.

Michelle Alexander, My Body / Your Object. Photo: Jonas Muller-Ahlheim

Seeking a more structured form of creativity, Alexander transitioned into fashion design at Parsons School of Design, where she earned an Associate’s degree in Applied Science. But the fashion industry proved unwelcoming. The toxic beauty standards and critical body scrutiny she faced left lasting marks, becoming the foundation of her later art practice. Although she initially tried to keep her experiences in fashion separate from her art, over time it became clear that the two were inextricably linked, deeply influencing her exploration of the body and self-image.

Alexander’s desire to deepen her practice led her to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned her MFA. It was here that she began exploring her interdisciplinary approach, blending drawing, installation, and extended image practices to examine tension, trauma, and the discomfort of inhabiting one’s own skin.

Her work now uses her own body as a canvas—sometimes literally. In her recent exhibition My Body / Your Object, Alexander invites viewers to walk on carpets printed with fragmented images of her body. The act of walking on or around these images challenges viewers to confront their own perceptions of objectification and bodily autonomy, creating an unsettling but thought-provoking experience.

Michelle Alexander, My Body / Your Object. Photo: Jonas Muller-Ahlheim

In her installations, viewers are subtly guided from being passive observers to active participants, often without immediate realization. At the opening for My Body / Your Object, Alexander designed custom wine labels and M&Ms that discreetly incorporated her art or the title of the exhibition. Many attendees didn’t realize they were consuming elements of the exhibition. This intentional blending of art and everyday objects invites viewers to engage more deeply, prompting reflections on how we interact with and consume visual matter.

Alexander’s installations are personal, often beginning with her own body as a foundation. Yet, the work evolves to create space for broader reflections, allowing viewers to project their own experiences and emotions onto the pieces. Her intention is not to dictate meaning but to foster a shared confrontation with the themes of identity, objectification, and vulnerability.

One particularly impactful moment in her career was a studio visit during graduate school when a curator interpreted one of her mannequin pieces as a commentary on the violence against women in Mexico—a connection Alexander hadn’t initially considered. This moment highlighted how her work could evoke powerful, diverse interpretations from viewers, aligning with her desire for the audience to engage deeply with her art. “I want everyone to have their own confrontational experience with the work. Engaging with real things that live in the world with us. Things that stir up questions. I don't think my work ever gives any answers, it just asks more questions"  or something like that maybe?,” she says.

Michelle Alexander, My Body / Your Object. Photo: Jonas Muller-Ahlheim

Her creative process is deeply intuitive. Alexander describes her practice as process-heavy, often involving an immersive and sometimes destructive engagement with materials to reach a final form. Interestingly, many of her projects begin in her subconscious. “Most of my projects, I dream about,” she notes, suggesting that her creative ideas often manifest in dreams before she brings them into the physical world. This blending of intuition and conscious creation forms the core of her artistic approach. This urgency to create is also a form of catharsis, allowing her to process emotions, anxieties, and lived experiences through her work.

Through her evocative installations, Alexander challenges audiences to confront their own discomforts, offering a space where vulnerability becomes a shared experience. Her work blurs the line between artist and viewer, as well as the personal and political. 

As for what’s next, Alexander admits she finds it difficult to envision grand future plans, preferring instead to live in the moment and see where her practice takes her. “I want to keep understanding myself,” she reflects, “and hopefully allow others to understand themselves too.”

With an ever-evolving practice grounded in vulnerability and confrontation, Alexander continues to create spaces where art becomes a mirror—reflecting both the artist's inner world and our own.

To learn more about Michelle Alexander, please visit her website and follow her on Instagram @michelle.alexander.art