‘Portraits Now and Then'
‘Portraits Now and Then’ is a Public Art commission which aimed to create 30 large format portraits of staff members at Haywood Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent, to mark its move from its original nineteenth century building to new premises. The project explores the influence of ‘place upon people’ and intents to reflect on the repercussions that the new developing may have on the life of hundreds that have worked there since 1887 when it was officially opened. The project addresses issues concerning with memory, identity and diaspora.
An Individual portrait does not constitute the work itself, but in fact it is a portrait. At the same time, the sum of many portraits of identical characteristics creates ‘The Bigger Picture’ of the Haywood.
This is a model of portraiture that, while serial in its organization presents each individual subject in place and position within a structured and pre-established order. By presenting all portraits together, I intent to reinforce the identity of the Haywood while minimizing hierarchy, social and race differences; nevertheless reinforcing a sense of community.
