Anna Meder’s Flower Faces

Anna Meder uses her body as a canvas, but also as a garden. In our conversation, Anna delves into her inspirations, her artistic philosophies, and her relationship with the natural world.

What does beauty mean to you?

For me, beauty, like art, is freedom. When you create a work, it’s already beautiful because it comes from the heart.

What inspires you?

I get the most inspiration from nature and its inhabitants, as well as from paintings by various artists. I’m also inspired by the unknown, such as space and aliens.

What attracted you to using your body as a canvas?

Using the body as a canvas is an interesting experience. It turned out to be more difficult to create on the skin than on a traditional canvas, but I like to show something using my eyes or my hands. This, for me, adds something to the work. This is where freedom and a full flight of fantasy begin. You don’t have to limit yourself, which is really cool!

What prompted you to incorporate materials typically considered non-traditional for makeup — like flowers and leaves — into your looks?

Classic makeup was never enough for me. Plus, I don’t consider myself a makeup artist because I have a completely different approach to this type of work. Rather, I am a freelance artist, so I use whatever I like and thus give volume to the work. Volume really matters to me. Visage is absolutely not for me.

Can you expand on the difference between volume and visage?

If you compare my work with that of other makeup artists, you will immediately see the difference. I glue more, and they paint more. I show the beauty of the things that I glue onto myself.

You are very clearly inspired by nature. Describe your relationship with the natural world.

I’m madly in love with our planet and its diversity. Working with flowers is sacred to me. I treat nature like a child and I want to show the world the beauty of nature through my work. By nature, I mean both plants and animals. Each of them is unique.

Tell me about the messy makeup community.

Our community brings together artists from all over the world who are free like us. Our goal is to preserve the unusual and show the world how extraordinarily people can think.

What advice do you have for budding creatives?

Never doubt yourself, even if you are told that you will never achieve anything. You can do anything! It will be difficult, but you will succeed if you work hard and love your work with all of your heart! Always go your own way and choose what you like. Be honest with yourself, and allow yourself the freedom to be creative.

What’s next for you?

I don’t look at my art as a job, so I don’t know what will happen next. Perhaps nothing, but perhaps I'll be creating for many, many years. In terms of my plans for the near future, I hope to bring more types of materials into my work.

Originally published March 4, 2021