Equality and Human Rights Commission

Amma | acrylic paint

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About Stephanie

Valerie Winn is 80 this year, and this portrait will be her birthday present from her granddaughter Stephanie. ‘She loves it, she was speechless when she saw it,’ says Stephanie. ‘I wanted to show how beautiful and graceful she is despite her age.’

Valerie has been an inspiration to Stephanie, partly because of the adventurous life she has led. After an upbringing in Sri Lanka, she became an athlete as a young woman, running 800 yard races for England. The portrait is entitled Amma, which is the Sri Lankan word for grandmother.

Stephanie decided to do a piece of work on old age after she saw an older lady being knocked off her feet by a girl on the bus. ‘I was really shocked. I thought what if that was my nan? It made me think about how we treat older people in this country, and how difficult it can be for them.’

As well as working on the portrait Stephanie has also done voluntary work in a local old people’s home, where she did workshops in card-making. She has also worked with groups of year 7 students at Gumley House. ‘Stephanie has contributed hugely to the art department and to the school generally,’ says her teacher, Jan Gare. ‘We are all confident that she will be very successful.’

Stephanie will start an art foundation course at Camberwell next year, and hopes to work towards an art degree at St Martin’s.

Stephanie's comments

My aim in creating this piece was for the viewer to look beyond physical appearance in the sense that the body has aged and deteriorated, and to become aware of the person and their spirit. Consequently, when painting I feel I have represented a sense of the subject’s personality through a preoccupation with immense detail. I gained a deeper understanding of how artists paint realistically. My particular influences were David Hockney, Chuck Close and Lucian Freud, even though I found their work more like paintings than the work of other artists that use photo-realism and hyperrealism.

I gained the idea of using ‘realism’ from thinking about my elderly grandmother, how her skin is withered, yet she still remains as beautiful and graceful as ever. When looking at her, this feeling is created inside me, where I feel the need to alter stereotypes about elderly people. Seeing as my grandmother is 80 years old and fitter than myself, I feel it is my duty to show there is much life in her still. Consequently, I have investigated what it is meant by ‘old aged values’, ‘stereotypes’, ‘ageism’ and ‘treatment to elderly people in society.