Exquisite Arts Magazine Vol 3 - Nov/ Dec 2016 | Page 23

“Art has ability like no
other to address issues,
raise
awareness,
and
challenge thinking and
above all to make people feel
happy.”
recurring themes but underneath it all is
a strong belief work must have integrity
and meaning to truly communicate with
the audience; otherwise it is just an
object. My work details a willingness to
confront political and social messages and
the power of art in highlighting issues,
mental health awarene ss and the healing
power
of
nature,
along
with
a
longstanding love of Africa.
I have been privileged to have been
exposed to cultures from across the
world and surrounded by exciting,
thought provoking art all my life. It may
be this that gives me the confidence to
‘attack’ surfaces without fear. My work is
multi-faceted, working with a variety of
media on canvas, paper, wood and glass.
Working with oil paints, acrylic, house
paint, enamel, I adopt unconventional
techniques that include using sheets of
Perspex, knives, brushes, construction
caulk and sanding machines. I describe
my approach as “having no rules and
disrespecting the canvas.” I create thick
impasto and add any item to hand
including plastic, sand, string, leaves,
and textiles; all superimposed on
canvases with slashes and scars to create
dense, deep, powerful imagery with a
moving vulnerability.

Without really promoting anything, I
started to sell work which instilled a
further belief in the new path that I was
following. Then a critical date in my
next development, January 8th 2016,
when my mum and I had a meeting with
Hartlepool Art Gallery and they
immediately
offered
us
a
joint
exhibition. That recognition of my work
by independent professionals was a
pivotal moment for me, important as
you do have to get used to a lot of
galleries who don’t respond to your
proposals. We have worked with
Hartlepool Art gallery since then
developing the exhibition which tells
our story across Africa and the North. It
opened to great success on 27th of
August 2016.

To me the key to this success has also
been a vision to use art as a means to
give the local community aspiration. It
cannot be easy as all galleries are
competing for a smaller and smaller
share of resources. Galleries are having
to make awful choices to start charging,
as happened this year at York, which I
imagine is something deeply distressing
to the staff or worse still to close as in
Kirklees. I do believe though that going
forward the key to survival will be
showing art that connects with people
searching for something meaningful in
this increasingly fast paced world. This
has to be real with depth, not just words.

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