Sarah Leonard

Lives and works in Glasgow, UK

Artist statement

The work shown here is from a series of drawings "!00 self portraits." and a screenshot of my Artist's Book. My paintings are large in scale- generally 7 feet square,loosely they are landscapes / cityscapes. I am currently working on this series. Previous residencies were with Gramnet and GCIN, working alongside integration networks,food banks and night shelters with refugees who " have no recourse to public funds." I have always been interested in stories- interviews are part of my work ( The books contain 1,000 portraits of adults and children who are, or have been, asylum seekers in the UK.They are collected together in 25 artists' books which include text, drawings,paintings and prints made over a ten year period,from 2010-2020. Each book is a hybrid; part art book, part social document,they disseminate the stories of the people who participated,with a focus on the children and mothers. The image shown is from Volume 1 " Notions of Freedom; Portraits and Stories. " I've been invited to give Artist's talks at Conferences in Orlando, Chicago, Reykjavik,Madrid,New Orleans,Lisbon and Troon! I am currently A.I.R at Fortuneworks, working with adults with learning difficulties on a portraiture/ documentary project.Some of this work will be seen at the O.H.A of America's Annual conference in Los Angeles this October. My main focus is drawing, which I love for its simplicity and immediacy and where it becomes a means of making an emotional connection.

Artwork