Influenced by Baroque art, photographs, film stills, and her father’s work with mosaics, Anisa Rakaj creates intimate portraits that adulate the female form and embrace embellishment. Rakaj methodically arranges her compositions, intentionally suspending her figures in an alluring stillness. Utilizing theatrical lighting, body positioning, and ornamentation, Rakaj imbues her work with a sense of drama. Each subject, conscious of the viewer, hangs upon the precipice of action, reveling in the chance of voyeurism. There is raw power exhibited as her subjects preside ownership over their sensuality, gaining fulfillment through their premeditated presentation. Confronting superficial eroticism, Rakaj’s works explore issues of agency, ownership, and censorship in the representation of female sexuality.