I work with soft drawing media on paper to create large-scale, archetypal portraits of women. I am concerned with psychological and emotional states and the tensions within them: rage and tenderness, confrontation and concealment, empathy and autonomy. I am fascinated by the history of portraiture in painting and by the ways in which changing conventions reflect ideas about gender. My portraits playfully refer to the past but explore contemporary reality, seeking to subvert traditional expectations and to convey a sense of freedom and fluidity of identity.