artist & social historian
William McKnight Farrow Paul Laurence Dunbar (1934) Oil on canvas, 70.5 x 59.7 x 3.8cm. NPG.93.86.
I came across this portrait of Paul Laurence Dunbar by William McKnight Farrow back in 2009 when I was in Washington DC for President Obama’s first Inauguration. As the only portrait of an African American, I could find on display in the gallery it had a profound effect on me and I endeavoured to find out more about it.
Read moreAs we celebrate the opening of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, I’m reflecting on my own Olympic Portrait. Back in 2012, I was delighted to be commissioned by Haringey Council and the Cultural Olympiad to create a series of portraits in celebration of the Olympic Games in Londonn
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Putti, cherubs, and angels have been an enduring symbol throughout the canon of Western art. They’ve been used in a multitude of ways from Ancient Greece, to early religious imagery in the Abrahamic faiths, to the Renaissance, all the way up to the ornate decorative cherubs in my studio. But, if angels are meant to be the embodiment of innocence, love, and hope, or the representation of souls in heaven, why are they almost always male, and exclusively depicted as white?
Read moreThe iconography seen in these pieces is derived from Day 1, Light from my critically acclaimed series In Seven Days…
I created this symbol of the seven hands, with different gestures, united in a circle of light. It is a powerful example of how non-verbal gestures often embody or communicate so much more than words. You can find out more about this symbol, and the iconography of the entire series here.
In Seven Days...was about capturing a specific moment in time. I wanted to witness Obama’s election on behalf of my mixed heritage children, and their generation, who were too young to watch it for themselves. To document it and understand what it meant, for them.
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