Over the last four years, Artist Ayla El- Moussa has carved out a distinctive niche for herself, weaving together the human form and the natural world in a way that feels both mythological and endlessly evolving. Unlike the relentless pursuit of peak moments, her practice thrives on a more measured cadence —one that allows for quiet reflection and personal metamorphosis. This was especially evident throughout 2024, a period of introspection that led to a deeper understanding of her creative impulses. Now, at the dawn of 2025, Ayla presents Source Code, an artwork that not only revisits her earliest inspirations but also heralds a bold new chapter in her artistic story.
The Interview:
Paloma: Your latest work is titled Source Code. It feels like a real return to the twin pillars that first defined your work - The ocean and the body.
A: Yes, In Source Code, I’m deliberately revisiting the moving elemental forces that have shaped my creativity: the ocean and the body. Over the past few years, I’ve purposely been drawing viewers into a more micro view, a close investigation of form if you will that has been all about embracing further abstraction. What I think of as my power of 10.
P: You’ve mentioned that the human form, once fully depicted, now appears as painterly fragments—what sparked that shift?
A: I think of it as “mining the subconscious.” I’ve been working on this concept more deeply since Nude Abstracts, by letting go of the direct representation of “Self”and full body, I’ve mined deeper nuances of what I’ve dubbed “my muse”, and this statement is the bedrock of my practice and I really mean it when I say “my work feels complete only when I no longer see myself within it”—when it goes beyond me and becomes about Her, this guiding force that is within the works.
P: This particular piece marks your first major release of 2025. Why is it so pivotal for you?
A: Source Code signals the culmination of a creative cycle, bringing me back to where it all began. I’ve always been drawn and inspired by the rhythmic motion and symbolism of waves and the infinite capacity of the body—two elements I regard as the cornerstone of my art. This return is both a nostalgic ode to my foundational inspirations and a reminder of how much I’ve evolved.
P: Looking back on your reflective phase in 2024, how does Source Code build upon that introspection?
A: Not every year demands grand, external triumphs; some seasons call us inward, urging a reexamination of our core influences. Source Code comes from that contemplative period as an affirmation of who I am as an artist—and, by extension, who I’ve always been.
P: What would you like audiences to take away from Source Code?
A: I’m not interested in making grandiose declarations. Rather, I hope people remember why they were drawn to my work in the first place: for that seamless fusion of mythos and modernity, intimacy and expanse. Source Code is a nostalgic homecoming, a forward leap in my practice, and most of all, an invitation to trace these origins—my source code—and see them anew. With Source Code, Ayla offers a quietly powerful testament to the continuity of her vision. It’s a work that marries the past and the future, the known and the yet-to-be-discovered, reminding us that true evolution is often found in the places we first called home.
Browse more work by Ayla El- Moussa here