Original artwork description:

This oil painting, entitled 'Hope', represents my entry for the Artfinder and Octopus Energy climate change art prize 'Portraits from the precipice'.

In 1885, George Frederic Watts, in a letter to a friend, wrote that 'I see nothing but uncertainty, contention, conflict, beliefs unsettled and nothing established in place of them.' Watts set out to reimagine the depiction of Hope in a society in which economic decline and environmental deterioration were increasingly leading people to question the notion of progress and the existence of God.

The painting I'm presenting is an allegorical painting based on G. F. Watts' depiction of Hope. It shows a lone, blindfolded female figure sitting on a globe, playing a lyre with a single string left, trying to get all the music possible out of it, listening with all her might to the sound made by it. The single remaining string is a symbol of persistence and fragility and the closeness of hope and dispair.

Needless to mention that Watts' words are echoed in today's world. This painting is my own interpretation of Watts' Hope in the context of the environmental challenges facing our human race: Hope in the days of melting glaciers, a time when fragility and resilience are so closely intertwined.

It has always been one of my absolute favorite paintings and reading Watts' words from 1885, inspired me to create this work. I hope my painting does justice to a great work of art with a timeless message.

©Daniela Roughsedge

Materials used:

Professional grade oil paint on canvas, varnished for protection.

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