The Witness Collective Artists

There's something so captivating about the pregnant figure - I turn my attention to other subject matter, but never for long before I'm back to it.

I think it's because it is univeral, yet deeply personal. And it's where we all began.

Susan’s practice grows from old family photographs whose subjects are unknown to her, yet remain unmistakably family. These lost faces become starting points for imagined stories and connections with those who came before. Working through drawing, painting and stitch, often at large scale, she translates fragile photographic traces into layered textile surfaces. 

Susan’s work explores presence and absence, memory and forgetting, inheritance and identity, using making as an act of attention and contemplation—and as a way of locating her own place within a family history that can no longer be fully known.

As an artist, I weave together landscapes and human stories rooted in my London Irish heritage, my career in social work, and my journey of personal resilience.

I offer my audience a space for reflection and connection—inviting them to see the beauty in shared stories, to celebrate resilience, and to find strength in our bond with the natural world and each other.

I’m drawn to how colour can shift mood and meaning. My work begins with people or places, shaped by memory, notes and poetry. I aim to create emotional resonance through a subverted palette and layered form. My practice evolves constantly, reflecting my deepening connection with the world around me.

My work sits between empathy and critique. Through painting, texture and language, I explore what is often avoided: power, silence, prejudice, climate, cruelty and care using artwork and poetry.

The work does not there to instruct:

• It asks questions.

• It invites you to look longer — and not look away.