Over the past year, I’ve been developing a body of work titled Common People – a painting series that explores memory, working-class identity, and the quiet emotional weight of everyday life. It started as something very personal. My gran found an old blue duffel bag in her wardrobe, it was filled with hundreds of forgotten family photos. That moment kicked off a deeper reflection on the kinds of lives that get remembered, the moments we hold onto, and who is usually represented in art.

“A Self-Portrait“ Emulsion and Acrylic on Canvas, 30x40cm, 2024

Most of the paintings are drawn from personal and family photographs, many from my own upbringing in Clackmannan, central Scotland. I use materials like emulsion, acrylic, and spray paint – often the same kinds you’d find in homes, garages, or DIY shops – to reflect the domestic textures and working-class settings I’m painting. These aren’t big, dramatic scenes. They’re quiet moments: my uncle as a boy in his Dunfermline top, a gran holding her grandchild, me as a toddler in my gran’s kitchen. But they hold a kind of beauty and care I want to bring forward – the kind you might not often see hanging on gallery walls.

“Grans Living Room” Emulsion and Acrylic on Wood Board, 80x100cm, 2025

Part of what’s driven this series is the feeling that working-class life is too often overlooked in the art world. I’ve taken inspiration from artists like Richard Billingham, George Shaw, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, and Noah Davis – painters/photographers who handle memory and place with real honesty. I’ve tried to do the same: not to romanticise or clean things up too much, but to paint what feels real.

“Away Day“ Emulsion, Acrylic & Spray Paint on Canvas, 100x120cm, 2025

“Beyond the Washing Line“ Watercolour on Wood Board, 40x50cm, 2025

Throughout the project, I’ve shown work publicly, gathered feedback, and experimented with how these paintings can be shown. I’m especially interested in showing Common People in spaces where the work might feel familiar, like local museums, and galleries – places where people might see themselves or their own families in the images.

“Scheming” Emulsion and Acrylic on Canvas, 100x80cm, 2025

Going forward, I’m planning to keep growing the project through collaboration and community work – continuing to explore how painting can hold space for memory, care, and class identity.