We have all lived through many turbulent times over the centuries, the difference now is how much more information is available about these events.

Seeing the amazing exhibition at the Royal Academy yesterday, inspired me deeply as I reflect today about my art practice. Tarsila do Amaral’s work was the one I connected with the most. I remember seeing Abaporu for the first time and the painting stayed with me, together with the name of the artist.

I walked into the Victoria Miro Gallery in Islington, London. Feeling drawn to the work of Celia, I can’t explain how it happened but from the very first time I got to know her work a few years ago, I have felt a kinship to Celia.

My sweet atelier. The place where I dream of my artworks, where I explore ideas for projects, where I meet fellow artists and friends. Also a place where my children come to be with me. A place where I claim as my own, but where I also invite them to be a part of my world, the world that I make for myself outside my role as a mother.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to be here in France, especially in Provence. Not only because of the history in relation to artists. But also because nature reminds us to live more in touch with nature, and also within oneself. Seeing Provence on the verge of spring, is magical. The air is crisp and cold, with bouts of sunshine, and flowers and leaves start peeking out, waking up from the winter sleep.

Have we forgotten to look?

A day in Paris bringing me back to mindfully Just Be!

Stories of the “Woman Experience” in art … or the lack of it

Today I am reflecting about my ancestry. Last year I discovered so much about myself. Including about the percentage of my genes which are connected to my indigenous heritage. This is something that I am only now starting to actively think about, and which I am looking to explore and learn more over this year and going forward. The challenge in part is that I am not sure where I will begin yet.

Nothing prepares for death…

A celebration of life through paintings.

RIP my sweet grandfather

Wishing that 2025

Questions…

For society and the art world as a whole.

Actively supporting women artists in my life came very early on and naturally as I set up my own practice. This week, I had the pleasure of joining two incredible women in London and Windsor for two unique art exhibitions.

As I started my art career, I was lucky to join an amazing group that was led by Beth Welch in 2020. This was back in 2019, I knew I wanted to be a visual artist, and had been sketching regularly without knowing how to take the leap.  I had 3 kids, my last one only a few months old.  At that time I felt the only way to be an artist was through formal education.  

I organised myself on a whim and left to see this spectacular exhibition at the Thyssen Museum in Madrid. I was lucky to have great insight from a fellow art friend who had attended the exhibition Ellen Holleman. And the exhibition was what I had been longing to see in a museum, (one not dedicated solely to women artists). I have purposely decided to add close ups of many of the images in the exhibition to share the intimate moments I experienced while. navigating the museum. It also will help you get a sense for the grandeur of these paintings.

Our dreams are shaped and largely determined by so many aspects of our upbringing. Additionally and quite certainly if you are born female, there is a big chance that you will be conditioned throughout your life. Most of us will grow up without realising about this conditioning, it runs so deep in our bones by the time we grow up, we can simply see it as part of “adapting” to the social structure around us.

From the stories we are told (fairy tales and traditional cautionary tales), to the images we see portrayed in art, and additionally to the roles the women in our lives take. The narratives around women are ones of conforming to standards and norms that largely limit us and our potential. I realise I was born with a rebellious soul, but my wild spirit was tamed throughout my life.

May this 2024 continue to be a year where I provide more visibility for women artists in bigger and better ways. This applies to women in history as well as to contemporary artists. So much I have learnt over the past year especially is providing me so much encouragement to continue on this path.

I was grateful to end 2023 by going to the ICA on the 31 December. What an inspiring visit it was. On the entry way there was a commission that was unavoidable and which was a clear reminder of the times we live in. Times of war in several countries, times of uncertainty for many women when it comes to our rights, and also to the rights pertaining to our bodies.

My visit to the Museum of Fine Art Boston (MFA), was nothing short of dissapointing. I went as I had learned about the Strong Women in Renaissance Italy Exhibition, the post I saw on instagram had an accompanying image of Sofonisba Anguissola, an artist I so deeply admire and look up in my own art career.