Artists First - National Portrait Gallery

My commission is in direct response to the portrait of Hans Sloane who is placed next to her. Sloane was a physician whose collection formed the British Museum. He had spent 18 months in Jamaica and wrote two volumes on its natural history.  The introduction to the first volume provides context for my commission:

'I found an uneasiness, soreness or pain in one of my Toes as if a small Inflammation or Tumour had been there rais'd by the pressure of some part of my Shoe. I had a Negro famous for her ability in such cases, to look upon it, who told me it was a Chego. She (who had been a Queen in her own Country) open'd the Skin with a pin above the swelling, and carefully separated the Tumour from the Skin, and then pulled it out, putting into the Cavity whence it came, some Tobacco ashes which were burnt in a Pipe she was smoking. After a very small smarting it was cured.'

As Sloane documented that he was treated by a woman who had been a queen in her own country, I wanted to reimagine this African Queen and place her next to Sloane.

In her portrait I depict plants that were documented by Sloane and I placed objects which bear some relation to Sloane or her royal status.