Claire’s husband, James, contacted me at the beginning of May as his wife Claire, who is a surgeon for the Royal Free Trust in London had been redeployed to the ITU, Intensive Treatment Unit, at Barnet Hospital to treat Covid patients with overwhelming symptoms which had not been witnessed with such intensity before.
The image we agreed to use for the portrait was taken early on. James says, ‘ It was early on in the pandemic and she was one of the first to be redeployed to intensive care to help with the Covid patients before there was proper PPE.’
‘Claire’s experience so early on was so profound and intense’ that we agreed it would be appropriate to go with the image that really emphasised the setting.
Whilst painting I kept thinking, where would we be without people like Claire, stepping forward when the rest of us take two steps back?!
I hope Claire is alright & able to deal with the traumatic situations she has witnessed & tried her hardest to resolve. I think a surgeon must be made of strong stuff but this year has pushed everyone to the edge and I felt for Claire as I painted her.
- Subject Matter: NHS Key Workers
- Created: November 2020
- Collections: Portraits for NHS Heroes