Portrait of Isolation - Freedom

At the start of my conversations with Elle she threw me a curved ball – she said she had an image in her head – a picture – but that she wasn’t going to tell me what it was!! After we’d shared many emails and a video conference I knew that the painting needed to be about the idea of escape – at which point she relented and she described a white horse freeing itself from its shackles – how many horses can you see …

For Elle in some way’s lockdown has been a positive thing – an unasked-for opportunity to stop the treadmill and reflect. She has been running away and hiding many of her feelings for a long time – as she put it Running wild but never free …

Trying for a long time to come to terms with feelings of shame and guilt – but these last few months – and being part of this project, has allowed her to let go of that shame and guilt – as she says “freeing my soul and allowing me to be me”