Q: The exhibition is titled Mothering – what does that word mean to you, and how did it come to define this body of work? 

A: Mothering brings together work made over the past five years, looking at care connected to birth and the raising of young children. With that title, I wanted the show to feel like it was about an act – something that is done – rather than an identity. It’s a doing word: the act of mothering. It’s not about biological motherhood. It’s really about all of the different people who are part of this, and the care that’s given in those early years of life.

Q: What first drew you to the subject of childcare and mothering as a focus for your paintings? 

A: Women’s lives – and particularly women’s working lives – have been the subject of my paintings for quite a long time. When I became pregnant and then had my first child in 2019, a whole new world of women’s work opened up to me. That ranged from my own domestic labour looking after a young baby, to the constellation of women surrounding that experience: midwives, health visitors, nursery workers and extended family. It felt like a really interesting direction for my work to take. 

Q: Can you walk us through your process – from first encounter to finished canvas? 

A: My process often involves shadowing women and observing them while they’re working. During that time I take lots of photographs, which I then work with back in the studio. I’m trying to capture something very informal through photography – something quite documentary about a person’s environment and the work they’re doing. 

Back in the studio, I use those photographs to make lots of pencil drawings, working out what feels interesting and how I might begin to construct a painting. Sometimes a single image works really well; other times I have to make a composite of several images. The oil sketch for the painting Theatre is a good example of that – I used three or four different photographs of a Caesarean section taking place in an operating theatre to build the final scene.

Q: What do you hope visitors will see or feel when they walk into Mothering? 

A: I hope that visitors feel they’re seeing something they can relate to in their own lives – whether that’s their own caring responsibilities, the work that they do, their home environment, or places they’ve been. The best feedback for me is always when people say the paintings remind them of something from their own lives. 

Q: Is there a particular painting in this show that feels especially personal or revealing to you? 

A: The works that include my family always feel different for me. They’re often the result of much more ad hoc, informal photography, and they depict people and places that are extremely familiar. They capture very particular moments in our lives together. 

The painting Granny’s Hair Salon, for example, shows my mum attempting to dry my daughter’s hair. In that painting my daughter is four – she’s nearly six now. There are other works too, including a portrait of me holding my son Laurie when he was six weeks old. Making paintings from these moments in my family life somehow crystallises those memories for me. 

Q: How do you think viewers who aren’t caregivers might connect with these works? 

A: I don’t think you have to be a caregiver yourself to connect with these subjects. Care is such a universal theme. We’ve all been given care or received care; we’ve all been children. Everyone has some connection to this subject matter at some point in their lives. 

Q: Showing this exhibition in the historic rooms of Pallant House feels significant – do you think the domestic setting affects the way people see the work? 

A: The domestic setting of Pallant House Gallery is an ideal context for these paintings. It really brings out the architectural elements within the work, as well as a sense of intimacy. Often it draws you into a space that feels akin to the domestic environments being portrayed, which feels very fitting.