Degree: BA Fine Art
University: Staffordshire University
Graduation Year: 2025
These paintings move like a quiet dream - each frame a still chamber where beauty softens the weight of feeling. Figures appear enclosed, braided, or drifting, their worlds held together by an exquisite control of light and tone. Yet under the polish runs a slow current of release, as if each image were negotiating the space between keeping hold and letting go.
Beauty here offers comfort, perhaps this is also a shield - soft on the eye whilst holding something back. In this delicate balance, the viewer is invited to linger in the gap - to feel the comfort of containment and the ache of what may lie just below.
Emotion is both my starting point and subject matter, focusing on figurative hyperrealism through oil painting: exploring shared emotions, experiences and personal reflection. From a young age, art was my way of communicating and processing the world, a response to growing up with dyslexia and anxiety. These early experiences shaped my approach, making creativity both a form of self-understanding and a way to connect with others. I am influenced by ideas from art therapy, specifically how viewing art can offer comfort and relief, and how it can resonate deeply within the viewer. Each piece begins with either a memory, an emotion, a personal habit or a sketch. This is then shaped into a visual narrative and composition that does not explicitly tell, but rather gently steers the viewer into an emotional reaction. I do this by using visual elements such as lighting, composition, and colour palettes. In this series, I have moved away from directly depicting what I want the audience to be seeing and feeling and leaned more into mood and tone, guiding the audience. The goal of my work is to create empathy and self-reflection, revealing how universal emotions like anxiety and comfort can connect us across different experiences. I aim to create spaces for understanding and reflection, where viewers can find parts of themselves and their experiences in the work, or simply feel the subtle emotions that are often overlooked or unspoken.
(2024) appetite stoke audience choice award
(2024) Burslem school of art prize