Where the Fairies hide their Gold!

About this work

Much of my work is about creating space for imagination. When we’re young, very little feels ordinary. We find faces in trees, creatures in clouds and stories hidden in the smallest details. The world feels full of possibility. As we grow older, that instinct to imagine is often pushed aside, sometimes much earlier than we realise, becoming quieter as life asks us to focus on what is practical and familiar. This piece began with a photograph I took of a lichen covered palm tree in Vanuatu. I was drawn to its colour, texture and the tiny, intricate world it held. The palm grew close to the sea, and because this piece sits between land and sea, I wanted the materials to reflect that connection. Alongside the metal leaf, I incorporated mother of pearl, which I have only used in two artworks. For me, it is a quiet nod to the place where this image was captured. When I finished the piece, a child who was with me looked at it and immediately said, “That’s where the fairies hide their gold.” I loved the playfulness of it, and the title stayed. Her response made me realise something I hadn’t considered before. Although my work is inspired by the imagination we have as children, I had been creating and naming my work with adults in mind. Hearing her response reminded me that art belongs to every age, and that children often respond to it with an openness that many of us gradually lose. Keeping her title felt like a way of honouring that. It also made me question my own habit of naming my work. Titles can sometimes narrow the possibilities, when I’d rather leave space for each viewer to discover something of their own. If I were naming this piece today, I would probably call it Resonance. But I have a real affection for Where the Fairies Hide Their Gold, because it carries the voice of a child’s imagination, and perhaps that’s exactly what this work needed. There is a lot of metal leaf in this piece, so it constantly shifts and catches the light throughout the day, making it feel active and alive. It has also been designed to be rotated in four different directions, allowing it to catch a different glint of the fairies’ gold each time. Happy dreaming, making stories and seeing magic. May the fairies visit with their gold a little more often.

About the artist

Anglo-Iranian mixed media artist based in Kent, creating artworks in the style of abstract realism using photography and gilded metal leaf.

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