I grew up looking at classical paintings and sculptures of feet being crucified, washed adoringly or anchoring the protagonist in various poses where bare feet represented strength, vulnerability, sexuality or impoverishment. We have very reductive, binary conversations about them now as being either objects of fetish or slightly off-putting, neglected, functional body parts. I also recognise their place as objects of devotion, care and intimacy.  

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These feet belong to one of my closest friends and I chose to paint them because I see this as a devotional portrait as well as an illustration of beauty and intimacy. The souls are vulnerable, the forms are beautiful and the tattoos are part of the story of this person.

Sarah Muirhead, Represented by Pontone Gallery, is a figurative artist who focuses on objects of curiosity and bodies with an intense, voyeuristic tone. A Graduate of ECA and nominated by Kirsty Wark as one of '10 Sensations', she has exhibited across internationally. Her Solo show was named by White Chapel Gallery among the top 5 exhibitions during Frieze week with work included in institutions such as Oxford University.

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Her recent work is built on the unstable ground of memory- portraying people and moments as they linger in the mind, dramatised, distorted and exaggerated, made sacred in their retelling.  She peers at her subject through the lens of the female gaze in a manner that is relatable yet unnerving.