Title

She stands where they fell painting

She Stands Where They Fell
Oil on paper, 2025
210 × 297 mm

This painting was made as part of the series developed for The Journey to This Wild Achingly Beautiful Place at Ortus.

The landscape is on the Isle of Man and is the view from my grandparents’ cottage. A place I know through family, memory and stories. The figure is ghostly and almost absent, more a presence than a person, emerging from the landscape like a memory.

The place has sometimes been associated with stories of witchcraft, although a conversation with a local historian revealed that these stories are not supported by the historical evidence. I became interested in the space between history, folklore and imagination, and in how stories become attached to places and passed down through generations.

For me, the figure represents that uncertainty . A memory, a witness, or an imagined presence. The work explores how landscape can hold both personal and collective memories, and how the stories we inherit can become part of the places we call home.

20% of the proceeds will be donated to Bethlem Gallery. These artworks were developed in collaboration with the gallery for The Journey to This Wild Achingly Beautiful Place.