Marc O'Sullivan Vallig

Alex, 2021

Oil on canvas | Unframed: 24.5 x 35.5 cm; Framed: 28.5 x 39.5 cm 

‘Alex Warren and I are both veteran stammerers. We met in Dublin in 2000, when Alex was mentoring on a speech therapy programme in which I was a participant. The painting portrays our lived experience, how society had convinced us we were never good enough, that we were somehow ‘less’. Making peace with stammering has been a lifelong journey for us both. This is my very first portrait in oils, and is based on photographs I took of Alex at Dzogchen Beara in the summer of 2021.’

Go back to the shortlisted works