Mortal and Strong - Scars of Gold

  • 100 women (the Voices) living with incurable or life-changing conditions
  • 100 scars of gold photographs based on the Japanese art of Kintsugi
  • 100 artworks by 34 artists

All taking pride of place during a week-long event at the Sidings at London’s Waterloo until 17th May 2025. I applied to be one of the artists and was delighted to be chosen. 

Two special voices

I was paired up with two ‘voices’. First, Melissa, who is living with Type-1 diabetes. This was close to my heart as my dad had lived with T1D from a young age. Although his diabetes was well managed (my mum being a trained dietitian helped with diet adjustments, and his own medical training meant he understood the physiology), his eyesight and kidneys were affected and sadly he died before the age of 40. Monitoring and treatment have advanced significantly since then, with some improvements in life expectancy but it requires constant vigilance, and people living with T1D have to make so many adjustments and compromises every day. 

Second, Mev. I didn’t know a lot about Mev other than she had initially been diagnosed with endometrial cancer at the age of 31. Her story is one of medical challenges and resilience, of knowing your own body and of not being afraid to make your voice heard. If you get a chance to listen to her podcast episode, please do.  

Two stained glass portraits

The brief was to create an artwork to represent one of the women. Sammy had created an incredible series of photographs, ‘Scars of Gold’, using gold leaf to create a kintsugi (“joining with gold”) effect on the area of the body affected by the health condition. For Melissa, the gold wasn’t concentrated in one area. A glucose monitor and insulin pump are a permanent feature, and diabetes can affect many areas of the body – internal and external. For Mev, her hands covering her abdomen were the focus for the kintsugi. Her photograph showed her in a bold silhouette, her trademark hair so distinctive despite the effects of treatment.

I knew I wanted to make these pieces large. Mortal and Strong is all about voices and awareness and I didn’t think small, delicate pieces would suit the message. I started out with a plan to create Mel 1m x 75cm but this was going to be impractical. I couldn’t find a surface big enough to support such a large piece, so I reduced the proportions to 75cm x 51cm. I used Sammy’s Scars of Gold photographs as my inspiration as they are just so striking. This dictated my colour choices… black, grey and gold.

Stained glass portrait of woman with brown hair and gold on her arms, hips and abdomen

The puppy and the bubble wrap

I had to order lots and lots of glass…. four huge boxes arrived. Each box was filled with large sheets of glass wrapped in cardboard and oversized bubble wrap. Cue my new puppy who became adept at bursting the bubble wrap so it would fit in the recycling box. I took over the top of the dog cage and used offcuts of MDF to create a base. I measured out a frame to keep my sizing in check and began the long process of cutting, grinding, foiling and soldering.

I did think about using gold leaf on the glass and I had just completed a gilding course so I had all the kit. But when I tried it on Mel’s portrait, it didn’t look right on the glass; it was too subtle. After much trial and error (black glass on the back… clear glass…textured glass…I decided to use Amber Muranese glass to represent the gold instead. It has a beautiful flower pattern and is a delicate colour that looks incredible in the light. Mel’s piece had a lot of black and I used oceanside black opaque with grey behind it so that the silhouette would really stand out. As you can’t see through black glass, you can’t just trace your pattern on the glass directly. Instead, I printed out the pieces on vinyl. My Cricut machine only allows a max size of 27cm so I had to slice up the pattern into multiple pieces to print then stick together. This took way longer than it should have!

Stained glass portrait of woman wearing black dress. Her abdomen is gold

Hands!

Mev’s portrait came with a different challenge; hands! Stained glass hands are difficult. Take a look at your local church windows and you’ll see figures with hands hidden by sleeves or obscured by strategically placed sheep. The hands you do see are painted. I didn’t want to use paint because Mev’s hands had gold leaf on them so I wouldn’t be able to get much detail. I mocked up a couple of drawings using Glasseye 2000 and the hands either looked like skeleton hands or like they had been lifted from The Simpsons; I couldn’t use either. A conversation with my partner came up with the idea of an ethereal shape across the abdomen. As soon as I drew it, it looked right. Her Scars of Gold photograph had the lighter colours around the edge and the solid black for the body so the colouring was going to be the opposite of the first piece.   

Both pieces are framed with zinc. This gives them strength. I was a bit worried about internal strength before I started considering the size of the pieces, and I considered adding copper restrip. This is a thin strip of copper that can be slotted between the glass pieces before it’s soldered together to give it additional strength. However, I made sure the designs had lots of curves and I was generous with the solder, both of which make sure they aren’t going to collapse inwards. 

They were too big to sit on stands so I had to add wire for hanging. I twisted two strands of copper wire together so the weight wouldn’t be a problem and it would still be flexible enough to adjust to hang on a single nail or two nails. I soldered a good few inches of wire onto the zinc to make sure it would hold the weight without budging.

Edinburgh to Norfolk to London

Then the issue of transport… they had to be delivered to Norfolk a couple of weeks before they were being taken to London with the rest of the artworks. I thought about driving them myself (I live near Edinburgh), and my partner offered to take them for me. But it would be a 7-hour drive each way so this was a bit impractical. I found an artwork courier company who would collect, pack and deliver them, with insurance. I won’t divulge how much I paid for this, but it’s £10 short of what my first car cost…

Then I didn’t hear from the courier company for days…and days… and the deadline for them arriving in Norfolk came and went. Oh, the stress. Easter weekend had intervened so the phone wasn’t answered and my emails were ignored. Fast forward to the next week and they arrived safely, packaged securely… phew.

The Mortal and Strong Exhibition

The exhibition is being held at the Sidings Waterloo between 9th and 17th May 2025. Find out more here → THE EVENT | Mortal And Strong There are health talks every day and a silent auction for the artworks with proceeds going to the Mortal and Strong charity.

I’m going to be there with my mum on the final day and can’t wait to see 100 artworks and the 100 photographs exhibited. I’ve already reserved my copy of the coffee table book :). My two stained glass portraits are called The Light Within I (Mel) and The Light Within II (Mev). I can’t wait to see them on display with the other artworks.

Look at the artworks and bid away. They raised over £10,000 in the first four days! Scars of Gold artworks auction

Please check it out, listen to their podcast, bid for an artwork, make a donation.