Painting from direct observation, I create intimate studies of people as they use objects, materials, and spaces for protection and empowerment.

I first became aware of the protective qualities of objects while drinking coffee in a mud brick house. I was in an oasis town in Oman with a group of women who met daily for friendship and laughter. Cups stacked in one hand were filled with thick cardamom coffee and passed to each guest. As I raised the small cup to my lips, a luminous flash of red-orange around one girl’s neck caught my eye.

The necklace of intricate silverwork framed an unexpected jewel; a magnificent plastic bicycle reflector. Bicycles were imported into Oman in the mid-twentieth century and this shiny reflector, designed to protect the cyclist, had been repurposed as an amulet to defend the person from the spirits that haunted the oasis.

Other girls wore amulets adorned with glass bottle stoppers, lapis lazuli, carnelian and bone. One wore an inscribed silver disk. On the reverse, scratched into the silver, was the stylised figure of a Jinn. The malevolent spirit known in the West as a genie. The Jinn was shackled to protect the wearer.

Since then, I have been fascinated by this universal phenomenon and the materiality of protection. The repurposing of this everyday item sparked my obsession with the active role objects play in influencing and enhancing our human experience. It has become both the subject of my art and the influence of my artistic process.

Upcoming and current exhibitions

2024

New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2024, Mall Galleries, London 13-22 June exhibition details

Recent exhibitions

2024

The Jericho Studio Open House, 11-19 May 2024

Oxford Art Society Members’ Exhibition 2024, St John’s College, Oxford

2023

Royal Institute of Oil Painters 2023, Mall Galleries, London

The Shape of Shadows, Fitzrovia Gallery, London

Oxford Art Society Annual Open Exhibition 2023

New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2023, Mall Galleries, London

Oxford Art Society Members’ Exhibition 2023, St John’s College, Oxford

2022

Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition 2022, Mall Galleries, London

Oxford Art Society Open Exhibition 2022, Cloister Gallery, SJE, Oxford

Illuminating Hugo Powell, Vishuddha Centre, Oxford

Dulwich Art Group Open House 2022, London