Exclusive Interview with Summer Aldis, 3rd Prize Winner Victoria Olt Gallery Drawing Award Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2025
A pencil-wielding wizard exploring the intricate depths of interiority, Summer Aldis has always had a penchant for elevating limitations into art. Growing up in Australia without the means to equip her wandering imagination with a boxload of expressive tools, she worked with pencil and paper, and arguably “an unhealthy amount of stubbornness”, as she gradually developed from a self-taught artist to an award-winning champion of the humble graphite, channelling inner thoughts and sensibilities into exquisitely detailed artworks that run the full gamut of the monochrome scale, swapping eye-catching colour for nuanced emotional heft.
Drawn from lived experiences, the artworks capture the fragility and grit, beauty and suffering that flood our inner world with unflinching honesty, enigmatic non-portraits where female figures shy away from the viewer to process emotions that delicately emerge to the forefront. There are no clear and final answers in a Summer Aldis drawing: ultimately, we are the sum of our emotional parts, the dichotomies of our lives in full bloom.
Fuelled by her winning work Old Soul, a stunning exploration of the lights and shadows that make us, I asked Summer about the challenges, experiences and inspirations that brought her this far.
Interview with Summer Aldis
Can you take us behind the scenes of the creation of Old Soul? There’s exquisite beauty, tenderness and danger in one composition, an explosion in silence. Were there any real-life inspirations and experiences that you brought into this piece?
Old Soul was very much a culmination of many thoughts and lived experiences that I had been channelling while preparing my 2025 exhibition of the same title. Recent family circumstances led me to a deep reckoning with my childhood, and the term ‘Old Soul’ was something I kept coming back to as a phrase that peppered my early years. Used so frequently by adults around me as a descriptor — it had woven itself into the tapestry of my self-identity. I wanted to understand the subtext; what was seen and inferred to by these adults that I was unaware of at the time? What does it truly mean to be an Old Soul?
The snake is a repeating motif in my work that I feel best captures this dichotomy — all at once, it references faith, wisdom and rebirth, alongside danger, death and deceit.
This exploration ultimately led me to wanting to create a piece that captured the dichotomy of life: that it’s the beautiful and the painful that shape who we become. I had the idea of flowers blooming from the heart / soul of the figure for a long time — loosely referencing the coming of age, ‘in bloom’ phrasing often used when describing young women. I also knew I wanted to feature hardy Australian flora, such as the king protea and banksia, to offer an edge to the typically soft, delicate nature of other flowers.
The snake is a repeating motif in my work that I feel best captures this dichotomy — all at once, it references faith, wisdom and rebirth, alongside danger, death and deceit. I love these two symbols together, and the way the figure seems to cradle them. It has a real feeling of peace and acceptance for the full spectrum of what she’s gone through, and how it’s shaped the person she is present day.
What led you to graphite as your medium of choice?
Growing up, we could never really afford paint, but my mum made sure we always had pencil and paper. I grew to love both the accessibility and challenge of the medium. Everyone has done a drawing or two in their life. And for artists — it’s typically the first thing you grab when you have a new idea to capture. But it’s very restrictive: you only have the monochrome scale; and you can only work as fast as the pencil tip allows. It requires patience and frankly an unhealthy amount of stubbornness, but I enjoy pushing the limits of what’s possible with the humble tool nonetheless.
You’re the recipient of several awards, but is there something in your artistic journey so far that you feel particularly proud of? How do you define success?
I’m most proud of my “first” drawing. I put that in quotation marks because I, of course, did many drawings before ‘Companion’ in 2021, but this was the first drawing I did with intent. It represents a mindset shift for me — for the first time I believed that I could be an artist in the professional sense of the word. I allowed myself to take my work seriously and, in turn, that allowed peers and mentors to take me seriously too.
You’re a self-taught artist. Has that, in your view, benefitted you over your contemporaries, or do you feel in any way it has held you back?
It depends on the day! I think one of the greatest benefits of the arts institution is exposure to different styles and knowledge structures, and there may come a time in my career where I want to actively seek this out. For now, though, I have enjoyed the freedom of exploring my medium, and deep diving movements and artists that really inspire me without the pressure of academic rigour. I think you can have a successful career in the arts with or without formal study it ultimately depends on what you want to achieve with your practice.
What draws you to portray anonymous women with faces turned away? How do you think that impacts the viewer experience?
I intentionally hide discernible features to make my figures feel more like vessels for a feeling, rather than a ‘portrait’. Sometimes facial features can be a barrier or distraction for viewers: they ask, “who is she?” rather than “what is she feeling and experiencing in this work?”. Human interiority interests me most, and the anonymity is what makes it most accessible.
Are there themes or perspectives you would like to explore in the future, perhaps pushing beyond that introspective, domestic space?
Not really. I think our inner worlds are constantly shifting with each new experience we have, and in turn, our domestic space reflects that. I think as I grow and mature my perspective and reflection on things will organically change, however, the vehicle of expression will likely stay the same.
Are there any favourite practices or a particular headspace you need to be in to create? You wear headphones often — is music, or podcasts one of the things you enjoy while drawing?
I need to drown out the internal monologue! For shorter sessions, I love popping on a podcast or playlist. For the longer drawing sessions, lately I’ve loved having old, nostalgic films or TV on in the background. The ritual is not so much what I’m listening to — it changes all the time depending on my mood. It’s more the simple act of sitting down and putting on the headphones that signal to my brain that it’s time to focus and draw.
Human interiority interests me most, and the anonymity is what makes it most accessible.
What would you say has been the biggest challenge in your path so far — and how did you overcome it?
I think for me it’s an ongoing challenge of balance. Life is busy and it’s easy to let everything else get in the way of making art. Intentionally prioritising studio time, even if it means being ‘selfish’, or saying no to people or things you’d like see instead, is a skill that’s always in need of improvement for me!
Why did you enter the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize?
Beautiful Bizarre was one of the first accounts I followed in high-school when I was getting into art! I’ve always been drawn to the variety of high-quality work they share and curate, and often daydreamed about one day being at a standard where I could be noticed. When I saw that they’d introduced a drawing category this year, I knew it was the right time to give it a shot.
What do you feel you have gained from this experience?
The international exposure has been wonderful! It was a ‘pinch me’ moment sending one of my drawings to New York for the Reverie group exhibition: what artist doesn’t want to have their work exhibited in this infamous city at least once!
Would you recommend it and encourage others to enter? If so, why?
The experience has been nothing but positive. The team at BB are incredibly professional and passionate, with a huge respect for artists and their creative pursuit. There’s nothing to lose and a lot to gain — I’ve loved every minute so far.
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