One Off The Wall

No results found.

Since graduating from The University of Sunderland in 2009, I have specialised in commissioned portraiture and figurative works. Alongside this, my studio artwork is based on a personal response to the stigma of depression and mental health issues in women.

My work examines the body language of women with this illness. The human body has an incredible ability to exhibit the sensations of the mind without the use of words; doctors call it the “faces of the illness”. Blank stares, downcast eyes, knitted brow, head supported by hand, or face masked by one, withdrawing into oneself, hiding, making oneself small”.
I use colour, line and strong composition to create an intimate relationship between the viewer and the subject. Through the use of body language, pose and mood, I want to focus the viewer’s gaze on the subject so that they can allow themselves a pure emotional reaction that speaks as much of their own feelings and experiences as of those they interpret in the subject they are regarding.

Each painting is thought provoking and I hope, has captured the desolation and loneliness of the illness.. . From a personal point of view I want the viewer to feel that they can take away something slightly different from each piece every time they view them.