Finding Space on the Spectrum of Sex Work: A Conversation with Chanel George
I am excited to introduce you all to California-based artist Chanel George. Chanel’s unique experience in makeup artistry in the film industry has led her to be a force in front of and behind the camera.
In this interview, we discuss how the pandemic forced her into a career shift, being influenced by 80s pop queens, and her future book plans.
I hope you enjoy this interview with Chanel George.
Who are you? Introduce yourself!
Hi, my name is Chanel George. I'm originally from Sonoma County/North Bay Area/wine country. I’m currently located in the North Bay Area.
Can you tell us about your journey as an artist—from your beginnings in the makeup industry to, at the moment, modeling and running a successful Onlyfans account?
I moved out to Los Angeles to pursue a career in makeup artistry.
After I completed school, where I studied the art of cinema makeup, I freelanced for about nine years. I primarily worked on adverting sets, where I got a lot of experience working with different teams to create a client's vision. I loved seeing how departments would, with their specialties, come together to put something together as a team. It was fulfilling work, especially when I looked at the final video or images.
Ultimately, I wanted to work with celebrities and tour with them. I felt I had a lot to offer as someone's personal makeup artist. That was the goal until everything changed when the pandemic hit.
I was trying to ride it out, but I was out of work for a few months and unable to pay rent. That was ultimately what forced me out of Los Angeles. I went back home to Sonoma County. I felt defeated and severely depressed. I had no idea what would be next for me. I felt sad because I had worked incredibly hard to build my career and establish myself in Los Angeles.
Staying at home, I suddenly had a lot of free time and no prospects of what to do with it. This was also around the time that everyone was creating Onlyfans accounts. Since I was so bored, I thought it would be funny to start one and see if anybody would subscribe.
Thirst traps that I already had on my phone, which was quite a bit, made up the content I initially uploaded onto the site. Much to my surprise, I got a decent amount of subscriptions, but then I got low on content.
Realizing that there was some money to be made I started taking self-timer pics of myself and uploading them to keep the ball rolling.
It became a bit exhausting after a while. I was not sure if I wanted to continue doing it. By that time, I was on my third Instagram account (they kept getting deleted).
While it was a decent amount of work to build a following over and over, I was starting to make connections with other artists and people were finally noticing my work.
Do you consider this to be “sex work”?
You could say that my work is on the spectrum of sex work because it is erotic in nature. There are definitely levels to it.
I have certainly thought about where I want to land on that spectrum many times.
Creating work like this has been challenging while living at home with my family. I put a lot into my work. I'm always bringing a bunch of bags and different things out to my car. I find myself waiting for my family to not home to load my car with stuff. Sometimes I feel like I am living a double life, which is really funny.
My mom knows I do photo shoots of this variety and have an OnlyFans, but I don't share that much with her because she's a really modest woman. We're the complete opposite of each other, so she doesn't really entirely disapprove of what I'm doing, but I also don't think she can really relate to it either. Unfortunately, I don't share much of my work with anyone in my family.
How do you structure your creative time?
Lately, creative blocks have hit me. I think it's important to take breaks sometimes. I'll often do a shoot, and once I’m finished, I’ll feel empty and uninspired. I know that that's my cue to take a step back, regroup, and move focus on the work that I've already created.
As someone who makes erotic artwork, how do you handle comments and critiques of your work?
I get judged for doing this type of work. I’ll often hear that no guy is going to want to date me because I'm putting myself out there in this way, and that's something that I've struggled with.
I get so much enjoyment and fulfillment from doing this work, but it's hard for me to imagine not expressing myself in this way just so that I could find a boyfriend. That's probably the one thing that has made me second-guess myself a lot.
I like to think that someone is out there who can see my work and respect it as an art form. I know that there will be a lot of men out there who will see it and think that I'm just doing it because I want to show off and be a slut. I really do want to find a partner. I think about ways to continue but also attract the right guy.
There have been times when I felt really uncomfortable about doing this kind of work because I feel judged, but I guess I've decided that I am willing to take some heat for it because it's worth it in the long run.
What inspires you?
As a child of the 80s, women like Madonna, Anna Nicole Smith, Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Jayne Mansfield, Drew Barrymore, and Alicia Silverstone inspired me.
I've always admired women who carry themselves confidently and could toe the line between sexy, bold, and beautiful. I wanted to carry myself with the same level of confidence when I started modeling.
I am one of those weird art kids inspired by art from the Renaissance period—naked women laying on couches being muses or draped in fabric with flowers and fruits being goddesses.
But then I'm also inspired a lot by pinup-era modeling. I love the innocent but teasing, sexy energy of those kinds of images.
No matter what I do, I circle back to wanting to emulate the vintage style made so famous by Playboy. I am most comfortable with nude and implied nude work. On my shoots, I always start out dressed and then end up naked.
Do you collaborate with other artists?
I have collaborated with only a few models, but I'm definitely open to doing more. I enjoy the variety of it, and I think it's fun to make art with other people and play with their ideas while we create something that we can look back on and smile and say, “Wow, we did that”.
How do you promote your work?
I'm mainly promoting my work on Instagram and Snapchat. I found that editing my photos and videos with scribbles and posting Reels has been the best way to outsmart the Al censorship. I don't have a huge following, but the people who do follow me genuinely are into my stuff, and that's enough for me. I'm not really concerned about having a massive following. I'm just more concerned about doing something that I love with cool people.
What’s next for you?
I would love to create some coffee table books of my work at some point, the only reason why it hasn't happened yet as I just feel like I haven't met the right person to help me make that happen. I'm obviously always adding to my archive because I keep shooting all the time, but I really look forward to the point when I can put some of this stuff together in a professional manner, even if it was only for myself just to have a book of the work that I have created.
I always wanted to do that with my make-up artistry, so at some point, I definitely want to have some books put together. I also would love to sell Polaroids and print some images on hoodies.
I'm not the best at marketing stuff so, for now, it's just building the archives until someone will come into my life that will be able to help me get it together.
One day it will all make sense!
Where can people find you?
You can find me on Instagram @deepseabaebee @analog.fantasy @muse_mua and on Snapchat at deepseabaebee.
