Breathe (2020)

I painted this around the time of covid lockdowns in Auckland and the Black Lives Matter protests. It felt like the start of not only restrictions on daily activities (warranted or not) but also a markedly more draconian stance by some in power around the world. I wanted to convey the sense of suffocation and overwhelm that many of us felt at that time.

I used face masks as stamps to print an undercoat in face-mask blue. I then painted a mouth, breathing; and then I covered the painting with layers of acrylic paint, applied with a paintbrush and roller.