Begin Again (2009-2014)

Begin Again (2009-2014) developed out of a decade of not-painting, inviting people I had worked with in that decade to sit for me. Work’s limits were explored: intellectual, administrative, affective labour or network. Discursive themes included questions of portraiture, the subject, and the concurrent dismantling of the welfare state.

Following each sitting with 76 people (typically a day’s work producing two portraits), I wrote a diaristic note and audio-recorded an interview with the sitter. All voices were anonymised in subsequent publications.