Nubian

15th December 2025

At the time this work was created, I was Head of a small SEND Behaviour School in Essex. Our students were neurodivergent, presenting with a wide range of needs including ODD, autism, ADHD, and severe emotional and social challenges. Working closely alongside therapists and psychologists, I helped deliver targeted interventions designed to support their complex behaviours and individual needs. I also managed a dedicated teaching team covering core subjects such as English and Maths, while building a curriculum where creative practice particularly art and music sat at the heart of learning. During this period, I rescued around twenty old art boards that were being discarded — an act that felt like sacrilege to me. The school itself had a large garden where, in the summer months, we grew flowers and vegetables, cultivating a therapeutic outdoor space that provided calm and grounding for the students, even when daily life could be intensely challenging.

“Nubian” emerged from a series of portraits painted directly onto those reclaimed boards. Each surface carried its own history scratched names, marks of wear, layers of patina, and fragments of crude graffiti transforming every board into a unique artifact. Rather than concealing these traces, I allowed them to become part of the work, integrating the physical memory of the material into the painted image. In this way, the boards themselves became collaborators in the portraits, their scars and stories lending depth, texture, and emotional resonance to each piece.