Description

156 cm x 106 cm x 5.5 cm (inc. frame)

Acrylic on Board

Original

I first encountered the poem ‘Of Mutability’ by Jo Shapcott in 2004 whilst I was working for the Birmingham Book Festival. Written when the poet was undergoing treatment for cancer,
the poem is full of grace in the midst of difficulties. For me, it is an instruction to seize the life we have with all its magic and wonder and ‘do not trouble to head anywhere but the
sky’. I return to this poem whenever I need a shot of perspective, or courage, or just to delight in the vibrant joy of the second stanza. In summer 2019 the poem wouldn’t leave me alone, knocking against my skull in every waking moment. So as I walked late into summer twilight, these paintings arrived.