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Notes
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The artist says: 'This is a portrait of my late grandmother, Margaret Hewitt. It was painted at the end of her life, when she was suffering from dementia and memory loss. However, she also had moments of clarity when she would remember who she was and snippets of the past would come back to her. These moments were poignant, and she would ask where she had been and what was happening. It was a distressing time, both for her and for the family, but I felt it was important not to shy away from this and to chronicle her as she was at that time. I didn’t want the portrait to be explicitly about dementia; instead, I wanted to bring out her humanity and portray elements of her personality from before she began to suffer from dementia. I wanted the portrait to be about her as a person and as my grandmother.
My technique is a bit like a jigsaw. I use thick paint and a large brush to carve out features, which give my paintings a sculptural element. Close up, the portrait is a series of individual marks of tone and colour. When you step back, these come together to create a tangible image.
Painting my grandmother’s portrait was a very emotive experience. It does not show her in her heyday, and it is not the easiest portrait to view, but I hope this is a fitting homage to her.'
Royal Society of Portrait Painters People's Portraits collection at Girton College, University of Cambridge
Cambridge
Title
92 Years
Date
2012
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 122 x W 122 cm (E)
Accession number
714
Acquisition method
on loan from the Royal Society of Portrait Painters
Work type
Painting
Signature/marks description
signature
