Over the course of the summer myself and a few other girls were asked to participate in the Love Life project.
This meant we had to produce a piece of artwork of any medium or material and give a written reason as to why the piece presented the theme of why we should love life. This project however had a more important cause and meaning behind it as the pieces chosen to be exhibited in the Love life Auction would then be sold for charities such as SoundMinds or Papyrus, who help raise awareness about serious mental health issues and aim to prevent the rising percentage of suicides in the UK and around the world. These charities were specifically chosen to support this cause due to the main reason for the event – to spread Sophie Clarke’s story and introduce the world to her amazing artwork. Sophie was an artist and FHS alumna. She was an adventurer and a dreamer and had always hoped to sell one of her pieces of art someday. During the auction on Wednesday 17th November Sophie’s dream was able to be fulfilled however sadly she was not able to be there in person as during the month of October 2020 Sophie sadly took her life. Though I never knew Sophie personally, the meaning behind this project struck me and so I previously intended to produce something in her memory.
When thinking about the theme ‘Love Life’ I immediately thought of the moon and stars – something personal to me as I have always believed in cheesy things such as fate and destiny which lies in the paths of our galaxy. Eventually I produced a painting I named “The Morning Star” which depicted the rising Venus star in an early morning of October 2020. I thought it an appropriate piece to submit as it made the relation to love in a personal and literal way; Venus in Greek mythology is known to be the goddess of love and by it being a painting of a star during the month of Sophie’s passing it conveyed my own love of life’s nature and galaxies as well as it being a painting of remembrance. To my surprise it was chosen not only as one of the paintings within the teen category to be exhibited but as one of the top 20 to be auctioned at the live event. The event itself was an array of colour and chaos. Artwork from all age groups had been sent in and the talent presented there was astounding and a little intimidating! Overall the night was a huge success filled with joyous light and laughter and I am honoured to have had my painting chosen for such an important cause.
Grace W – Year 11
