Nowadays, it’s hard to turn on the news and hear updates that don’t contain the words: ‘Unprecedented, Lockdown, pandemic, COVID and quarantine’. These are all phrases that I had to read up on in my Chinese dictionary because the whole concept of this Unprecedented pandemic is so foreign.

But now, the lockdown has become our new idea of normality. Stay indoors… Protect the NHS … Save lives, these are all slogans that we hear and see all the time. So many lives have been lost and every day the government report on the rising numbers. The world has changed during lockdown; the issues that the protests and movements brought up are as relevant as ever and although life and death always matter no matter the situation, I realized that I’d never felt such an urgency to acknowledge the importance of my friends and family. With this in mind, I started to paint those who are dear to me in an attempt to immortalise such social links.

ITU Nurses Jen & Steve

I took part in the ‘NHS heroes project‘ where a group of artists come together and paint portraits of essential, frontline workers to show our appreciation.
The first person that approached me about the project was Laura Moorby, a sister working in Royal Preston hospital.

Then I received a message from Heike who wanted to nominate her friend Chris Scott, an ENP nurse from Macclesfield Hospital. Heike sent me a picture but it was dark and I found it hard to discern Chris’ features and so, trying to maintain the surprise, Heike had to create an elaborate story about needing to take new work photos for Chris to send a clearer one. In the end, our efforts were worth it.

Jen contacted me through Instagram and asked if I could paint her and her husband, Steve. Both of them were ITU nurses who worked at Royal Cornwall Hospital. We arranged a Zoom meeting and took a few screenshots. When I showed them the first draft concept, Jen and Steve were delighted to see how I had captured their feeling of love, protection, fear and exhaustion caused by the pandemic. When I sent Jen the finalised painting, both were moved to tears.

Painting is my passion in life and seeing the impact that it had on people brings me much comfort in this time of unrest. I’m glad that I’ve taken part in the project and as a result, I have made some amazing new friends.