Name: Journey to Agadir
Medium: Acrylic paint and natural flowers on canvas
Size: 80cm x 100cm

About –
“You are never truly free, until you are free within” and so I find myself travelling to Africa, knowing that changing my environment is the first step to letting go of everything I thought I was. Here I am, creating a piece from Morocco that is heavily inspired by the colours and nature that surround me. As a woman who has travelled here alone, I find it interesting that whilst my environment reflects soft, warm, inviting, feminine colours, I cannot help feeling vulnerable. Is this to do with my own mindset, or the way we are raised in society? I wonder if this is a part of life, no matter what country or culture you are living in? Despite the fear of being a lone woman in a new, strange country and the challenges this brings, I wanted to create a piece that celebrates femininity. The fresh flowers in the piece – collected on my walk from home to studio – are intended to reflect the beauty of the fertile, exotic world that surrounds me. I also stopped using water half way through the creative process and literally painted amongst the dust on the roof of the building to try to truly reflect the conditions in which people live and work in here.
Whilst I am here, attempting to unlearn what I thought I knew, I hope the piece reflects a celebration of femininity and exotic expression, which is too often suppressed or judged. Regardless of all of this, I hope my art brings you joy.
“We must let go, if we wish to bloom again.”