Aleah Chapin's Vulnerable Portraits of Elderly Women

American painter Aleah Chapin (Seattle, 1986) creates monumental oil paintings of nude elderly women from her community in northwest Washington State, whom she affectionately calls 'aunties.' Her hyperrealistic works depict aging bodies with visible signs of age and illness, including amputations, often provoking mixed reactions. In 2012, she became the first American woman to win the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London for her painting 'Auntie,' a nude of a middle-aged woman. Chapin describes her subjects as mothers, aunts, friends, and professionals—writers, dancers, scientists, and more—who have given her the gift of vulnerability. Her paintings, influenced by her training at the New York Academy of Art and the realist tradition of Andrew and James Wyeth, emphasize strength, self-acceptance, and joy, often depicting groups of women dancing naked in nature. The article, published on Artribune Magazine #51, explores the presence of Eros in these works through touch, laughter, and mutual affection.