THE CITY WATCHES ME AND I CAN'T FALL ASLEEP
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April 2020
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Oil on canvas
Painting series
This road is based on a real street I live not far from in London. I was walking home late one night and looked up. At a glance, the top of the buildings’ TV antenna and chimneys looked like groups of men in their 1930s/40s trench coats & fedoras. I remember feeling watched, felt like they were bats and I was in their city, I was just waiting for laser beam eyes to appear. I kept staring but it never did happen. Part reality, part imagination part how I see the world part how I sometimes wish the world was. An ode to my insomnia and the lonely city.
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The second piece to this series is on a tiny canvas. It is based on a picture my friend took of me and my flatmate through the window of our old apartment that got broken into. Us, unaware of a watcher albeit its harmlessness, it was once not. An exploration of the birth of even more paranoia- the idea of home and safety being breached and eyes of the city are watching every move making sure you know, you do not belong.
The first painting of the series was eventually chosen to be used and printed as a postcard for Project Postcard for HOME, supporting our migrant workers community during COVID-19 and its relevance to the lonely, empty streets that now take on a new meaning.