The Jungle. Oil on Canvas. 40'' x 40'' x 1.5''. £2750

The Jungle was painted in reaction to the Calais refugee camp which was heavily in the news and which I also passed by on a trip from France to the UK. The vast fences, the bright lights, the Gendarme checking the back of our van with a machine gun clutched in his hands created a hostility and aggression which was so unlike the charming countryside we had so recently been driving through. Through the media and in this physical and moral destitution we are persuaded to look at view these human beings as animals, statistics and problems. What are there stories? What have they escaped from? The promises of democracy and Western ideals just appear to have let them down. Their dreams of work and freedom replaced by barriers, police, politicians and cattle grids.