‘Arrival’ is the first painting I made of the show. The work is a self-portrait, holding my daughter when she is a newborn. There is an ambiguous figure in the background in a different room, a nude body on all fours. This symbolises birth and sexuality, pain and pleasure. The painting is about touch, in different ways. The absence of sexuality in the post-partum period, yet the assumed sexuality in the pregnancy and birthing process. I wanted to reference the loss of boundaries and in some ways identity often in the labour and birth period. It is about the absence of romantic touch, yet the abundance of maternal touch. The close proximity to a child, and their dependence on physical closeness with you. The importance of building an attachment and that physical closeness, particularly as the non-birthing parent. Arrival means to come to a place after travelling. I liked that idea, especially as my daughter was conceived through fertility treatment, to reference that journey. Arrival also means the emergence or appearance of a new development. This felt poignant to me, in reference to of course, the baby’s arrival, but also, the arrival of a new body of work, new ideas and concepts, also the arrival at your new identity as a parent and an artist. The show essentially is about transformations, and I think this piece really speaks to that transformation.