Art

Whilst I was undergoing active treatment for Breast Cancer, I started a course of Art Therapy with the Maggie’s Centre based at Charing Cross hospital. Because it was the pandemic, the class was online. I’m pleased to say that our group continues to meet about once a month online & we’ve also started to meet up in person as well.

In addition, I started creating art work with a series of art challenges set by an organisation called 64 Million Artists & I’m still doing the January Challenge (where you create a piece of art per day) & a lot of the weekly challenges that are set across the year.

I last did art classes in school so I didn’t know what I was able to do. Surprisingly, I’ve now made a series of quirky creations that reflect my experiences & my personality. I was even part of Grayson’s Art Club (created by Swann Films for Channel 4) & I had my installation “The Smells Of My Family” exhibited at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery as part of series 2 of the show!

I describe taking part in 64 Million Artists and Grayson’s Art Club as separate blogs (select ‘Blog’ from the drop down Menu if you’d like to read them), but below is a selection of my pieces. It includes pieces that depict my lived experience of being disabled & having cancer.

This page updates as new ideas come.

‘The Smells of my family’ – Grayson’s Art Club:

This is a piece of conceptual art that was selected for Grayson’s Art Club, series 2, on Channel 4. This photo is from where it was exhibited at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.

During the pandemic, I had to stay home as I was deemed ‘Clinically Extremely Vulnerable.’ Despite isolating & wearing full PPE & my PA’s doing the same, I still caught COVID-19 twice. The second time, I lost my sense of smell for quite a few months. I had this idea of pretending to collect my family’s favourite smells & putting them into jars & bottles to preserve them as a memory until I could see them again.

Alt text: Inside an art gallery with white walls. There are a set of differently coloured & sized jars & bottles, placed in two lines, encased in a perspective box which stands on a white plinth. Each bottle & jar has a label with a smell. Different coloured name cards hang from the larger bottles or they’re placed in front of each jar & each of the smaller bottles. Paintings by other artists surround the plinth.

The Guillotine series:

There are three mixed media pieces in The Guillotine series. I view cancer as a guillotine hovering over my head, ready to drop at any moment. The first creation is about The Guillotine (a cut out of a black & white cartoon image of a guillotine) being dressed up in a fancy cape with rainbow feathers & fastened with a pretty pink, glittery pom pom. I’m trying to dress up my anxiety here. The second collage is about me pushing away The Guillotine, holding it up above my head & pushing it away with all my might. The image is a photo of me taken on an accessible platform, cheering on my favourite band. My face looks contorted in happiness but in this context, it’s contorted in sheer hard work. The last creation is of The Guillotine being taken away from me. Birds in flight have tied ropes to the guillotine & they hold the ropes in their beaks, flying high in a blue watercolour painted sky.

The ‘Yes I Am…’ series:

I created the ‘Yes I Am…’ series from a prompt by 64 Million Artists. It was about boosting self-love & self-esteem, & asserting yourself in the world. You had to incorporate the words ‘Yes I Am..’ in your pieces.

Self-esteem, self-love & self-confidence can be really difficult to achieve as a disabled person. There are so many assumptions made about us – that no one will love us enough to be our partner & that we stay home all day, doing nothing. There are also many negative perceptions of disability – that we can’t possibly be happy about being disabled & that we constantly seek ways in which to prove that we’re not disabled.

At first, it was challenging for me to think of myself as attractive & confident after Breast Cancer surgery but these paintings helped me think about how proud I am about being disabled, how much I love life, how I hate staying home & how much I love my partner – & how much he loves me. I really enjoyed painting these acrylics & they gave me the confidence boost that I needed.

Alt text: Picture 1 – A comic-style acrylic painting of a woman with long hair, sitting in her electic wheelchair in a garden. Garden lights hang behind her. She’s wearing star-shaped sunglasses, a wooly hat, a purple & silver cape & bright red lipstick. She holds a blue umbrella in front of her – it’s open & covers her legs. There is some text in red capital letters painted across the umbrella that says ‘Yes I am satisfied with how I turned out.’

Picture 2 – A comic-style painting of a woman with a ‘bob’ style hair cut, dancing in her wheelchair. There are sound speakers & lights behind her. She is dancing with her arms out to the side. Her head is turned away. She wears blue sunglasses. The text in red capital letters across the painting says ‘Yes I am definitely dancing.’

Picture 3 – A comic-style painting of woman with long blonde hair on an urban street. This is just a headshot. There are colourful houses, flats & shops behind her. She wears sunglasses, a mask in a Mexican skulls & roses print, a black baseball cap & a red jacket. The text across the painting in orange capitals says ‘Yes I am going out.’

Picture 4 – A comic-style painting of a man & woman. They are headshots. They’re side by side, really close. They’re both wearing sunglasses & the woman wears a white faux fur cape. The text in red capitals written across the painting says ‘Yes I am in love.’

Medical watercolours & inks series:

I created this series of four smaller watercolours & inks to depict the more medical aspects of my cancer treatment. Three of the paintings show how I experience different stages of Neuropathy in my feet.

Alt text: Picture 1 – A watercolours & inks painting of the top of a white arm, prepped for surgery & getting ready for IV medications. There are two different coloured needles that connect to one main tube, all secured with a large dressing fixed with medical tape.

Picture 2 – The first watercolours & inks of a pair of feet in socks. Both ankles in jogging bottoms are in the picture. A series of black needles are stuck in the bottom of each foot. Shockwaves painted in jagged red lines radiate from heel to the toes on each foot.

Picture 3 – The same pair of feet & ankles. There are no needles now but the jagged red lines still radiate from heel to the toes on each foot.

Picture 4 – The same pair of feet but more of each lower leg is showing now. The feet are positioned side by side on the floor & blue lines painted as waves radiate from the toes across the top of each foot.

Emotional impact:

The next couple of paintings are about what you & your loved ones need in order to get through treatment. Resilience is needed but so is asking for help.

Alt text: Picture 1 – A small painting in watercolours & inks of mixed weather by the sea. Part of the sky is in dark colours & the sea has stormy waves, but the other part of the sky is sunny & the sea is calmer. The word ‘Resilience’ is painted in red across the middle of the painting. Other text in red capitals at the bottom of the painting, right hand side, says ‘Silver Linings #CalmArtCollective.’

Picture 2 – A large collage in coloured card. The text in black pen in the top left hand corner says ‘I’m falling. Catch me. Please.’ The collage is dominated by a pair of open hands cut from blue card. A pair of broken hearts cut from red card appear to float down into the open hands. Two single, small feathers cut from yellow card are above the hearts. They appear to be floating down too.

Holiday In A Jar:

I created this whilst on lockdown. I’m capturing a beach scene in a tiny jar. The pink parasol is a cocktail umbrella, the sand is made out of brown sugar, the sea & sky are pieces of paper painted with blue & green watercolours & the beach towel is a piece of pink ribbon. The jar sits on a white shelf with a black music speaker behind it.

Friendship In A Pocket:

A created a little virtual gift for my friends who wished me a Happy 50th Birthday. I turned 50 during the pandemic, so we could only meet as six people & others I celebrated with a Zoom party. This gift is for them. It’s a little paper pocket that contains some of my favourite trinkets – a little ruby red velvet heart with gold sequins, a small note book with a gold thistle emblem, a robin cut from a Christmas card (my favourite bird), a yellow fountain pen with a white bird design & a green peppermint jungle herbal tea bag that advertised Jarvis Cocker’s new record (yes, quite random!) A hand made from a black printing block & the following words appear in black capital letter on the front of the pocket: “A circle is round & never ends, & that’s how long I’ll be your friend.”

Mapping Memories:

This is a sketch in a black ink of the journey from my home to my favourite music venue, Brixton Academy. I did this in lockdown when all music venues & festivals were closed which made being isolated all the harder. My journey in images is – I go from my home in a London Taxi cab passing Ladbroke Grove tube station (depicted with the London underground logo). I cross Battersea Bridge which I’ve drawn with its old fashioned London lamp posts, passing the tall Clapham Clock Tower & finally reaching Brixton Academy which I’ve drawn with its majestic dome & pillars.