The Gatekeeper

Medium: Oil paint on linen
Size: 25.5 × 20.5 × 2 cm
Framed: 27.8 × 23 × 3 cm

I met this gentleman in Morocco and was immediately drawn to the warmth in his eyes. At first he seemed hesitant, but moments later he greeted me with a broad, friendly smile.

I handmade the wooden frame to echo the weathered door and earth-coloured walls of the historic site where we met, helping to root the portrait in the setting that first inspired it.

I chose the title The Gatekeeper because of his role guarding an important part of his country’s history and culture.

Yet there was something else about him that day. Dressed in his traditional robe and seated before the old building he helped protect, he seemed completely at home among the history that surrounded him. He had the quiet presence of a storyteller, as though he belonged to the place as much as the place belonged to him.

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