This work is Serenity, it's actually it's part of a series, Salvation that I've been working on for the past couple of years. For this project I'm inspired by Langston Hughes' poems. He was a poet, playwrite and social activist and there are two main elements in his work which I'm inspired by – dance and blues, which refer to freedom and loneliness. So this work is based on those two elements, dance and music, which resonates because I have it in my own heritage as well.
Ellie is my subject here. I created the outfit for her from wrapping paper. I painted the backdrop and the background with the gold leaf, and then I asked her to come to the studio. We discussed the project I'm working on, but I didn't mention all the details because I wanted her to just show her feeling, her expression, which I didn't want to be very staged. So I played the music and asked her to dance. I sat in the background and after a few minutes she gave me the most beautiful expression and emotion which I captured.
