Women, Portraits & Power
Professor Patricia Daley, Rachel Wang and Binny Mattews with portrait of Patricia at JM Finn
I love being asked to host a conversation between two extremely successful women. It means I can bask in their brilliance and my time is spent navigating their vibrant energy for the audience to enjoy!
This is exactly what happened at the electric ‘pow wow’ between celebrated Sky Arts Portrait Artist finalist of the Year (2023), Binny Matthews and Professor of Geography at Oxford University, Patrica Daley.
Having been invited to host, I threw myself into finding out more about these two brilliant women. Meeting them beforehand to gain a better knowledge of their work and interests was a must as connection is everything. Being able to hear more about Patricia’s background and journey to becoming a professor, supported me in how to manage the conversation. Listening to Patricia’s challenges as one of the first black women to receive her position at Oxford University made me admire her even more.
Binny captivated the audience with her frankness and clarity of vision; her confidence and deliberation as an artist shining through when answering questions from the audience. She mentioned her favourite portrait painter, Dame Laura Knight and the painting: ‘Laura Knight with model, Ella Louise Naper’, which can be visited for free at the National Portrait Gallery. The story behind this painting is one of boldness. The artist, Laura Knight was a student and wanted to paint life drawings but it was forbidden for women to do so at Nottingham School of Art in the 1880s. This painting illustrates how restrictions against women did not stop her creativity; a fitting message to all women in 2026 and beyond!
Held at the wealth managers JM Finn, this exclusive soireé was organised by yet another power house, Caroline Kenyon; a serial entrepreneur, journalist and the founder of World Food Photography Awards.
Since this rich and illuminating event Caroline’s charity; Bread & Jam and my social business, Chocolate Films are concocting new creative ideas on how to develop this fascinating subject matter further. There are many more stories to tell about Women, Portraits and Power so watch this space! In the meantime, if you are keen to research the subject of Women, Portraits & Power further check out my five favourites below:
Queen Elizebeth I - The Armada Portrait 1588
Artemisia Gentileschi, Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria 1615
Malala Yousafzai by Shirin Neshat 2018
Claudette Johnson Blues Dance 2023,
Work in Progress by Jan Haworth and Liberty Blake 2021
