Hackney Winter Nights Arrests Painting

B. London 1985 Occupation: Artist Guest lecturer for ‘Arts in Health’ at psychology dept at UWE. Founder of Outsider Gallery and Hackney Wick Life Drawing. Also, I am currently delivering my Expressive Arts and Wellbeing programme for the NHS MHT North London Forensic Service, since 2016. As well as being a full time artist working from my studio in Hackney Wick, London, I am currently employed as an artist for the NHS - delivering my own expressive arts programme for NHS North London Forensic Service which has been an incredible challenging but exciting journey as I also engage with NHS mental health services due to having a Bipolar diagnosis. This work also lead me to become the founding director of Outsider Gallery, London's first & Innovative art gallery exhibiting original works from NHS trusts in Forensic, CAMHS, HMP institutions, secure units, care settings & the excluded. I would say my childhood and early adult life experiences definitely informs my work. I never knew how to describe my work, I didn’t contemplate it until a doctor described my scribbles as self portraits and that they were/ or still are outcomes” - and I have a record that lists me as a vandal that causes criminal damage. Because of these two long standing issues and constant reoccurrences, I’ve always displayed an authentic rebelliousness energy to my relationship with art. I have been working with the NHS North London Forensic Service as an artist for many years but also separately engaging in their services as a mental health patient for even longer. It has been exciting but also incredibly complicated to navigate which again, I felt the only way of processing this was through paint. I believe this is where the idea of the Blue NHS Love Heart came from which since 2017 I’ve been painting outside and recently gained a lot of attention due to the pandemic. I think that my activist intentions really helps understand and link better in with my local communities, I really passionate about bringing community individuals together for positive active change.