My work examines memory, disguise, transformation, ritual and revelation in both personal and political arenas. It calls on and uses imagery from the media and other printed sources. Subjects include John F Kennedy’s assassination, Catholicism, Donald and Melania Trump, authoritarianism, Fascism, 1960’s TV cartoons, pop culture, children’s play and film. During Covid I began to re-examine family history, including the rituals and activities of seaside trips. Other works involved the rumours and false accounts of where Covid had originated and how it was spread, and the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury.

Works reflect domestic and international concerns – immediate family with my parents dementia and health, the Gaza crisis, memory and hearing loss and the conflation of both in my world with the difficulties of my parent’s current situation. The works explore issues and subjects that involve significant numbers of people directly, as in the UK with an aging population, and in Palestine with nearly 2 million citizens displaced and under bombardment. The national and international news attests to this. Dementia and age-related issues are less publicly noticeable but affect populations throughout the world. My work contains elements of simultaneity and ambiguity. I touch on authoritarianism and the rise of the right. Also, entertainments and distraction, family outings and domesticity; which are a response to the isolation arising from Covid and sensing a need in people for familiarity and certainty in a very uncertain world which memory and nostalgia give solace. The personal and political remains an essential and constant aspect of my work.

Imagery can be occluded – things are there but partially obscured. All can be tracked back to specific visual sources which are brought together on image-mood boards from which I paint. I do not use prior drawings or preparatory sketches but work directly on to the canvas and examine and interpret imagery in a freer and dynamic painting method generated by visual and emotional responses.

Part of my work has examined controlling hierarchies and the culture of elites, and uses historical and contemporary iconic images which are well known within western culture. Visual clues invite the audience to join the significance of each work and experience it in different and individual ways. This democratises the relationship between viewer and work and refers to political control and the challenging of power.