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THE LOST GENERATION
122cm x 122cm. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 2003. The way in which I convey the figures in my paintings has evolved through considering the escalating issue of the displacement of people throughout the world. International and civil conflict has caused major disruption to millions of people’s lives. One of the most frequent immediate outcomes of such disruption is the physical displacement of people from their homes and villages to camps where they have no choice but to wait until political solutions are found. Their lives are literally ‘suspended’ in time. It is this notion of ‘suspension’ that has led me to create a language of rows of people standing, looking out and waiting until their lives can resume. To the majority of the outside world, these people are anonymous statistics and for this reason the figures are faceless. We are told of their existence on television and through black and white images in newspapers but this reality disappears when we turn the screen off or turn the page. But each one is of course an individual who within the limits of the means at their disposal have made choices of about colour, hairstyle and dress. Thus the images try to play between the notions of anonymity and existence, individuality and disappearance. I have focused on children because this ‘limbo’ they are placed in is particularly acute and damaging at such a formative stage of their lives. It is not just for them as individuals that the outcome is so tragic but for society as a whole of whom they are the future generation. The picture is never totally bleak, however, for life does go on and children in particular have a capacity and energy to create hope where their elders see only despair. For this reason I use mostly strong, vibrant colours to create a certain pulsation, and to refer to the rich colours of different cultures.
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