LSE Life
A three-panel painted commission for the London School of Economics, painted live with its community.
OVERVIEW
Some works begin with a brush. This one began with listening. LSE Life was created through a series of conversations with student communities at the London School of Economics, gathering the stories, symbols and shared experiences that define life at one of the world's most storied institutions. The result is a single living composition across three canvases: a tree rooted in the city, architecture woven into nature, faces and creatures that carry the weight of a community's identity.
THE BRIEF
LSE wanted an artwork that captured life at the institution as its community actually experiences it, not an official portrait, but something built from real voices. The challenge was to bring together the many ideas, symbols and stories that emerged from those conversations into one coherent narrative, a piece that would belong equally to everyone in it.
THE CONCEPT
The composition is structured around a central tree, representing the foundation of LSE. From the four corners, people interacting with one another form the base, emphasising how dialogue, exchange and relationships sit at the core of the institution. The tree grows upward into branches that shape and support the architecture, with key buildings integrated into the composition, then merge into flowing lines that stand for the dialogue between people, knowledge developing through interaction. In the background, a circular form references the World Turned Upside Down sculpture, anchoring the work to a recognisable LSE symbol, with the mascots and penguins woven into the wider narrative. Every element earns its place: nothing is decoration, and each detail was offered by the people who live this world daily, translated into colour and line without losing what made it true.
THE MAKING
The triptych was painted live, on campus, with the LSE community invited to pick up a brush and paint alongside me under my guidance. The composition and colour were mine to hold, but the surface carries the hands of the people it's about, so the finished work isn't just about the community, it was literally made by it.
THE OUTCOME
A single living composition across three canvases. A commission that belongs to its place, and to everyone in it.
