About

Born in Manchester, I studied at Manchester and Sheffield Colleges of Art. After a 30 year hiatus, five years ago I returned to my painting practice, completing the One Year Mentoring Course at the Newlyn School of Art.

Encouraged to explore the origins of my creativity, I began to reflect on my early life — time spent in hospitals, repeated surgeries that left my leg scarred and muscle wasted.

Through this reflection, I created a series of profound images of my feet, exploring personal trauma and offering an emotional response to vulnerability and injustice. This process provided me with a story — and a release — from the early experiences which shaped me, and more recently examining the mark making and colour in creating an energy reflective of the trauma and emotions we feel.

Depictions of colour and form generate an emotional response to the image and the subject of the foot as a symbol of freedom, humility, devotion, and a connection to the earth. They are also associated with movement, stability, and our relationship with the physical world, and metaphorically to describe one’s walk in life.

My work can be unsettling, imbued with a sense of discomfort. The fraying of the raw cotton canvas reflects the fragility of life and how easily it can be torn apart by a simple action or careless word.

Working primarily in acrylic, ink, and pencil, often on raw, unstretched canvas, my practice taps into themes of identity and resilience — finding joy through adversity.

Recently it has brought me into contact with professionals who deal with the physical and emotional trauma of disability, including charitable organisations, and this will lead to new artistic projects over the next eighteen months.