I primarily identify solitude with a sense of freedom. It is those moments I have to myself that are, hopefully, free from outside distraction. However, it is more often associated with loneliness. The oxford dictionary meaning defines it as ‘being solitary; lonely place’. Whichever way it is perceived, solitude is a state of sought or imposed singularity. What makes people feel this way forms the basis of this body of work.

I seek out solitude to create my artwork, even though the nature of my work means I am not necessarily alone. My main focus is the human form, and more specifically for this exhibition, the portrait. Since I work from life, there is usually at least one other person contributing to the process. Our concentration is focused on two different things. I am absorbed in my subject’s face as they are wrapped up in their own thoughts or activity. This psychological distance found between the subject and myself constitutes the first part of the work.

Most of the images have backgrounds consisting of exerts from books and newspapers. Reading, in itself, can be a solitary act; ‘Something in the relationship between a reader and a book…suggests impenetrable privacy and a selfish eye and singular secretive action.’ (Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading, Flamingo, Great Britain 1997 p. 21) However it is also the specific nature of the material that I have chosen which defines the feeling of solitude. Whilst the texts present personal thoughts and actions, they also symbolise the things that offer freedom and loneliness to different people.

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