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Painting the cost of living on people's faces

Niall McCrackenMid Ulster reporter, BBC News NI
Photographs by Sara Two paintings side by side. On the left is Hatty, who is three years old. She is laughing and looking to her right at some bubbles she has blown. On the right is Mary who is Hatty's great-grandmother. She has been painted looking at the camera and smiling. She has short blonde hair and large pink-framed glasses. Photographs by Sara
A painting of three year old Hatty alongside a portrait of her great grandmother Mary Brown

From a three-year-old girl battling childhood cancer, to the 98-year-old great grandmother who has experienced nearly a century of love and loss.

These are just some of the intimate stories that feature in a new portrait exhibition in County Tyrone throughout the month of July.

The collection of oil paintings are by artist Jade Magee and centre around the theme of the cost of living.

Magee said: "Beyond the financial issues, I wanted to dig into the real world impacts on people's everyday lives, because living costs us more than the pounds and pence in our pockets.

"It cost us in joy, in grief, in stress, in love, in hope, in disappointment and those are things that shape who you become."

Magee grew up in Moygashel in County Tyrone.

The majority of those featured in the exhibition in Ranfurly House at Dungannon's historic Hill of O'Neill are also from the county.

Photographs by Sara Jade Magee is a young woman with long brown hair which is lighter towards the ends. She is wearing a long-sleeved green dress with buttons up the front. She is smiling at the camera and is standing in front of some of the paintings in her collection which are hanging on a white wall. Photographs by Sara
Jade Magee says she wanted to reflect the stories of ordinary people and their resilience

Magee said: "I am a working-class artist from Dungannon, and I wanted to reflect the stories of ordinary people and their resilience and how they have walked through hardships with grace and courage.

"I suppose my hometown has at times been in the news for not always positive reasons, but it's important to remember that communities aren't defined by headlines, they are defined by the people within them."

Each painting is also paired with a short film, letting the subjects tell their own story, in their own voice.

Magee said the films are the beating heart of the project.

She added: "By the time I went to paint them I had already interviewed them, so I had laughed with them, sometimes cried and heard their whole life stories, and that really fed into each painting."

Hatty and her mother Victoria are outside under a bright blue sky. Hatty, who is wearing a yellow dress with purple polka dots, is standing up and smiling while holding her two thumbs up. Victoria is sitting down. She had short re/brown hair and is wearing a sleeveless dark purple top and black framed glasses.
Victoria says her daughter Hatty is still full of joy despite her cancer treatment

The youngest person featured as part of the paintings, is three-year-old Hatty from Moneymore.

On her second birthday, she woke up with what her parents thought at the time was just a cold.

After things didn't improve and several tests and appointments later, Hatty was diagnosed with childhood leukaemia.

Her mother Victoria Smyth said it's been a difficult journey.

"Life has been very different since Hatty's diagnosis, and even though she has been through a lot, she is full life of life and full of craic.

"There's a lot of treatment and appointments, but we've just been so proud of how far she has come, and how she has dealt with it."

Smyth said being asked to be part of the exhibition came as a welcome surprise.

"To be honest we were honoured, and Hatty was really excited to be painted, and I just loved the theme of getting the stories behind the paintings.

"The term 'cost of living' can be interpreted in different ways, and the reality is people are struggling with lots of things behind closed doors, and I think Jade has really brought them to life."

'It was emotional'

Hatty even made it the opening of the exhibition to see her painting in full display on the gallery wall.

Smyth said it was a great experience for the whole family.

"Hatty absolutely loved it, she was all biz about how Jade had captured her curly hair, so it was lovely to see that innocent reaction.

"I did find it quite emotional, but in a good way because I think Jade has been able to capture a difficult moment in Hatty's life, but we'll look back at this experience as a really positive break in it all, and she definitely captured that twinkle in her eye."

Sitting alongside Hatty's painting on the gallery wall is a portrait of her great-grandmother Mary Brown.

'I've come through the grief'

Mary Brown is an older woman with short blonde hair. She is smiling at the camera and is wearing dark framed glasses. Behind her are two large pale pink cushions with tassels and a dark bookcase with books, photo frames and trinkets on it.
Mary Brown believes kindness is the secret to good health

The 98-year-old from Pomeroy said life has changed a lot over the last century.

"Growing up we had no running water, no electric, no phones, but we all played together with the other farmer's children, that's how we had our craic."

Brown believes the secret to good health is "kindness".

She said: "I always say just be kind to anyone you meet and do what you can to help others who need it and it'll serve you well."

During her interview as part of the project, the conversation with turned to loneliness in old age.

Brown was one of ten children and lost her last surviving brother a few years ago.

"That was very sore on me, I remember I just sat in the chair in the corner in the kitchen and I didn't want to see people, I didn't want to leave the house.

"But then one day the sun was shining and I thought to myself, I can't go on like this because I'm going to be like a flower, I'll fade away and die if I don't get out and mix, and thank God I've come through it."

'Walking, talking masterpieces'

Photographs by Sara Two children and three women, including Victoria Smyth and Mary Brown stand in front of Mary's portrait on the wall. Beside them to the right is Hatty's portrait. Standing beside that portrait is a man holding Hatty in his arms. Photographs by Sara
Hatty with her great grandmother and their wider family at the exhibition opening

Brown never expected to have her portrait hanging in a gallery.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw it, I was pleasantly surprised and shocked, and now when I go to church everybody jokes – 'there's the celebrity coming'."

The exhibition entitled, The Cost of Living: A Collection of Portraits by Jade Magee will be hosted in the gallery in Ranfurly House until the end of July.

Magee says she will be forever grateful for those who have shared their stories as part of her debut solo exhibition.

"I'm just putting paint on the canvas, the people that I have met are the walking talking masterpieces."