Interview
Sophia Rose Byrne
Sophia Byrne has improved a lot, before she used to be either catatonic, or in tears and hysterical by the things she would hear. But unlike many schizophrenics who gradually get worse, she has definitely improved, and she puts that down to her immersing herself in art and poetry. Her illness began manifesting in her childhood. Her autism went unnoticed at school and by mental health professionals. We live on in what we leave behind, like art and music and literature. It turned out, she wasn’t a great virtuoso, she tried music, and even drama but she was always much better with words, and her autism would love to correct people’s mistakes. And so, she gave art a go, it’s something she picked up early in life. She loved to draw and doodle, that soon became sketching and painting, and pretty soon she was taking photographs.
She definitely loves taking pictures, they are very captivating. They capture that millisecond in a person’s expression, or the mood of a place. They capture a lightning in the sky and the moving car. At the moment, she’s in the process of designing a book on the Canva app titled the Beggar’s Banquet. She will definitely continue to work and exhibit her work. She uses social media a lot and try to get herself noticed. She certainly can’t be accused of shirking work, she’s an absolute workaholic, it’s never ending. Her condition means that she has insight into herself and her depths but she can't always verbalise it to the best of her intentions. Her ideas and words come quickly to her, but she can’t always remember what she thought when it comes to recording it down, therefore she comes across more simple than what she is. That’s at her most honest, but if you give her a chance, she can impress you with her inner world and how she really attempts to put it into words. It just doesn’t always come out the way she thinks it, that’s her autism, and schizophrenia doesn’t help either.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“My interest in art begins in my childhood when, at my convent I took art classes. I was among the elite at my school, in the top three academically until a terrible accident changed my life entirely. I recall my love of colour way back to my time in Iran when at the beach I would pay to spin paint on a spinning piece of paper and create exciting artwork. Other than that, I took art at school and took my art O’level at the age of 14, then I went to college and did art as an A’level for two years, then a foundation course in art and design for a year. However, that’s where my education in art stops. I did attend a degree course for a term, but had to leave as I had mental health problems. You see I am blighted by a schizophrenic type illness. I spent my younger years as a drug enthusiast and took things that changed my personality and destroyed my mind. I still have addiction issues but I’m working on breaking free of this disease. I engage with a drug addiction agency and take medication which has really helped overcome my problem, but I’m still not near where I want to be in terms of getting clean. Around 6 years ago I began immersing myself in creating images that impressed the people helping me with my issues. An organisation (SHP) who works with the homeless, the mentally ill, and substance users, took an interest in me and gave me a budget so I could buy materials, and get involved in practicing art. I bought myself a tablet and I began teaching myself to do digital art with a stylus pen, using photography. I decided I would publish a book ; a collection of digitally drawn portraits of the homeless, the mentally ill, and substance abusers, as well those who work with them, alongside poetry written about them. At the moment I am designing this book, I am up to 46 pages, and I am using landscapes that I have recently created as backgrounds to the poetry, as well as the portraits. I am learning all the time, by using apps like sketchbook, and canva, and I am very excited to complete this project. I intend to continue creating books, and I am dedicated to completing it. In January this year I registered a limited company and began selling my art pieces through a website.”
What inspires you?
“I have learnt a lot by other’s work. I am sometimes not able to travel to see beautiful places, so I get my inspiration from looking at sites like Pinterest, or Linkedin. Social media has played a huge part in me developing my artform. I look at images, paintings or photographs and I change the design or the colours, to my own choice. I’m sorry if it’s unethical to take what someone else has created and copy it but I try to make the image a new one, by adding my own content or changing the shapes that it creates. Of course I don’t use other people's work entirely. My digital art is all my own, for this I use photographs that I’ve taken myself, though in the case of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe or David Gilmour, the photos are images photographers have taken and I find them on the internet. My book which is titled the Beggar’s Banquet is the project that inspired me to use the people in my life, like the people at the hostel where I live, who have been unemployed, homeless, mentally ill, and frequently substance abusers, and portray them through digital art. The portraits are effective and interesting, showing them in their environment, and as they are. They are poor and I intend to give them 20% of the money I make through selling their images which would really help them out as often they are on very little income and have to beg or steal for their money. I would like to influence them away from crime, and help give them an alternative. My life has been a hard one but I take the good with the bad and I portray it in my artwork, and I have learnt alot from the people I portray and write about. Recently I have become more interested in landscapes, and I’m using these images in my book as background to my poetry. My love of poetry began with my love of reading literature. I began writing down verse and songs, and I also enjoy singing. Music inspires me the most, as does film and I love writing about the people I admire or know through music, film and art. I used to love going to galleries, though as I’ve gotten older I go out less often, so I will buy magazines and use images and stories I find in them. I’ve been published for my art and poetry in an art magazine called ‘homeless diamonds’. It’s published by the same organisation that houses me, st Mungo’s. I have lived with them for the past 5 years and until recently they were running art classes every wednesday by a woman called Ann, and I have been talking about starting an art class for the residents that I will be running, which is very exciting. Nature is my greatest inspiration. I love going for walks in the park, and around autumn time, I love feeding the pigeons and squirrels with almond nuts, I believe that they talk to me. I am very spiritual, and believe that my condition is more a spiritual thing rather than a mental disease. I believe I talk to angels, and demons, though I prefer talking to the angels, as the demons can be rather mischievous.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“Though my book is about homelessness mental illness and substance abusers, the majority of my work steers away from those themes and celebrates the celebrities I have admired like Mick Jagger Paul Weller Madonna and Ian Hunter. Landscapes are another of my passions, though most of my work seems to be looking exotic places visited by those who can afford it. The message I am trying to submit is to share with others 20% of the price of my work will be donated to either a homeless mentally ill person or a charity for them to give them the opportunities I had when I was undergoing treatment.”
“Landscapes are another of my passions, though most of my work seems to be looking exotic places visited by those who can afford it.”
How would you describe your work?
“Modern art abstract expressionism landscape art, portraiture, impressionistic and political.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Paul Klee and Kandinsky are in the top 10 of my favourite artists. I identify with them a lot. The use of shape and colour derived from actual visual dialogue with the environment they're in. Like a landscape broken down into different pieces. Or a face broken down into shapes each varied in tone rather than colour, or like a jigsaw puzzle. I admire many of the great artist's like Van Gogh Gauguin Paul Cezanne, or Picasso or Dali. I also admire my contemporaries like Larissa Aukon whose 'resting shadows' I copied in felt pens. Or Anna Dillon's work 'Harcourt Maple' inspired me to do a watercolour painting I titled 'within my reach of a lone standing tree’ resembling a fist. Other than them there are thousands of artists I admire like Freda Kahlo and Diego Rivera.”
What is your creative process like?
“My genre of art portraiture is a style of pop-art. I feel an energy within me that catches hold of me, and will build up inside, until I suddenly burst into work and produce different pieces of work. It’s more like an energy or a force that keeps me motivated. I will search for a picture or photograph, or I will take photographs, and work from the photo. I enjoy reading, though recently I don't read so much fiction. I also love children’s books, and will buy a selection from the market stall in Chapel street market as they are beautifully illustrated and give me ideas. My ideas shift and I don’t plan what I’m about to create, I let the work develop within itself I never know what the end result will be, and I try different variations before I get to an end result.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I feel an energy within me that catches hold of me, and will build up inside, until I suddenly burst into work and produce different pieces of work. It’s more like an energy or a force that keeps me motivated. I will search for a picture or photograph, or I will take photographs, and work from the photo. I enjoy reading, though recently I don't read so much fiction. I also love children’s books, and will buy a selection from the market stall in Chapel street market as they are beautifully illustrated and give me ideas. My ideas shift and I don’t plan what I’m about to create, I let the work develop within itself I never know what the end result will be, and I try different variations before I get to an end result.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“My first exhibition was of a portrait called ‘the old devil’, which is a portrait of my boyfriend Henry Oattes who is half Mohawk and born in Glasgow but brought up in New York. He was an American veteran and fought in the war in Afghanistan in the 80’s. It was well received at the Holy Art Gallery, Dalston London. I have also exhibited in Paris Brussels and Amsterdam, as well as three exhibitions in New York, one which was an expose by the curator Mara Cipriano of Mads Gallery, in Times Square. I intend to put on more exhibitions next year, and maybe have a one woman show. There is a gallery at a local hospital, which may exhibit my work next year which is to be arranged by my consultant Psychiatrist Helen Killaspy who cares for me in the community.”
Website: beggarsbanquet.company.site
Instagram: @sophiarosebyrne
