‘She’s Gone’ tells the poignant story of one of Oxford’s many street dwellers whose wife Steph, the name tattooed on his arm, recently lost her battle with cancer. Prior to Steph’s death, the couple struggled to pay for extortionate medical care which could only be gained privately. The huge bills, overdue rent and his partner’s death led to depression and homelessness. Viewed through fiery orange geometry, his reading material painfully entitled ‘Quick Bites’ I want to make visible those that have become invisible, to question the structures that allow such misfortune to go unheeded and unaided.

With stitches, patches and burnt sections, this piece explores and expresses emotional hurt. Often invisible to others and hidden behind a mask, our hurt emotional landscape is laid bare here, showing areas of mending where some temporary measures of healing have taken place. Areas of distraction where a superficial interest has taken attention away from the raw feeling and tempered it for a while. Areas of new structures are revealed in the burnt away holes, representing the reconstruction of new beliefs that have emerged from the pain. In a sense, this piece is a recognition of the raw depths of human pain yet also a reminder of our ability to heal, regrow and adapt.

Like a carnival dancer swirling through a street of colour, this painting captures a deep desire to be free, confident and spontaneous. Spiralling with a roller I could, for a moment, surrender to that freedom. But the geometry with it's meditative, repetitive lines, shapes and forms symbolise the order amidst the chaos and the calm and silence behind the cacophony of colour and sound. This piece could be viewed on many levels. The twelve sided geometric polygons can be seen as a symbol of time, our preoccupation with schedules and deadlines. Our need to break free and follow our intuition, if even for a short spin. The geometry, being mostly hidden may also be seen to hint at a hidden order behind the apparent chaos of daily life, whether this be the psychological structures we hold in our minds that help us order the events in our lives or possibly, deeply held spiritual beliefs that enable us to see meaning, even in the mundane.