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So often throughout the history of art, women have been the objects of the artist’s gaze, the artist generally being male, and the artist's model or muse being female.  I want to turn the tables and paint a woman's eye view of the world. In particular, having travelled extensively I want my story in paint to be celebrating the lives’ of ordinary women in third world countries.

The three countries in particular that inspired this exhibition held at the Mahara Gallery, Waikanae in 2019 were Ethiopia, Morocco and India. 

One of my most potent memories of Ethiopia was about just how hard it was to meet local woman to talk to or connect with. While little boys do at least play in the streets and seemed to enjoy following tourists around and showed curiosity, girls and women were just less visible. If girls weren’t at school they were by and large working and much of that work was domestic work done behind closed doors or in walled courtyards.

A subsequent holiday to Morocco reinforced this memory of “Invisible Women” as I saw elderly men sitting outside the tea shops in the evening but never women. Last year we travelled around India and I gathered a rich tapestry of experiences and an overload of inspiration for subsequent paintings. I responded to the warm vibrant colours of India as well as the people and the culture.