The pandemic for me was a time of mixed feelings. A time of fear and concern for the safety of the people I know. Uncertainty about seeing my daughter and mother when the borders closed. And then in contrast to this, there was a guilty relief that the chaos of life could simply stop. That I could enter the studio and create.
Shortly after finishing this painting I was diagnosed with cancer and lost all my hair. Although it has since grown back, I now feel some level of disconnect from the women with a full head of hair in this self portrait.
This portrait won the Darling Portrait Prize with the National Portrait Gallery in 2022