Fine Art

Acrylic on wood · 2026 · Available

I’ll drive

Acts of care do not need to be dramatic.

I recently found myself on a diagnostic journey, filled with confusion, uncertainty and fear. It was painful to suddenly be a patient, to feel such a lack of control. I was grieving in a way for what felt like had been lost.

In this piece, I have depicted myself in a dark car, in a moment of feeling this heartbreak, eyes closed, picturing my new reality, with tears on the brink of falling. But I’m not alone. Sitting beside me is my best friend. Accompanying me in this journey, not to wallow, to acknowledge my pain whilst keeping her eyes on the road, her hand on the wheel.

In the moments when advocating for yourself is exhausting, asking for support from loved ones can feel impossible. Even questions from friends and family like ‘What do you need from me?’ can be difficult to answer.

What is vastly easier to do is to accept support.

Going for a drive, a ‘mental health walk’, or grabbing a coffee. These are the everyday acts of care that can make the biggest difference.

This piece represents these everyday acts of care, what it means to have someone next to you when the road is uncertain.

The loved ones who remain beside their friends and family. Who pick up the phone and say:

‘Let’s go out tonight –
I’ll drive.’

Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas · 2025 · Available

20/25 Vision

Featured in the Journal of Holistic Healthcare and Integrative Medicine, Volume 22, Issue 2, Summer 2025: “20/25 vision: medical students in the blind spot”

As a medical student studying medicine as a second undergraduate degree, I am ineligible for a tuition fee loan, leaving me to self-fund my studies. I have felt frustrated that I am working so intensively to fund my education that I cannot engage with my studies as deeply as I would like to.

I created a self-portrait confronting this paradox. In the painting, I have depicted myself taking a Snellen eye test, used to measure visual acuity. I titled this piece 20/25 Vision, an eye test result indicating slightly poor visual acuity (compared with the normal 20/20 vision).

The lines I can read spell out the phrase ‘Work to study to study to work…’. This was the ideal I visualised: I would work to earn my degree to become a doctor. Out of my visual acuity range, and in the metaphorical sense, beyond my own foresight, were the lines below the 20/25 label. These complete the phrase ‘…but I am working to study to work’. This is the jarring reality.

With the chart placed behind me, I have depicted myself looking in the mirror, confronting myself through self-reflection. The turbulent oil pastel background intensifies this confrontation, highlighting the cyclical nature of my frustration.

I hope that when looking at my piece, you feel the disorientation, frustration, and discomfort that come with being stuck in the loop of study and work.