Painter, born and lived in London, whose work used violent contrasts in tone and hard, bright colours and was “to do with ideas of the desert or wasteland”. She studied at St Martin’s School of Art, 1969–72, gaining her diploma, notable teachers including Henry Mundy, Gillian Ayres and Albert Herbert. During the mid-1970s she was a cartoonist for magazines such as Spare Rib and Time Out and worked in publishing as an editor/designer. Hamilton from 1977–81 read English at London University, gaining an honours degree and her doctorate in 1989, combining later studies with lecturing in English at Middlesex Polytechnic and West London Institute of Higher Education. She attended Byam Shaw School of Art 1989–92, for a fine art diploma, teachers Wynn Jones and Julia Farrer.