Claire Phillips (born 1963[1] in Hammersmith, England) is a British portrait artist, whose paintings generally have a social or political narrative. Her portraits of prisoners on death row have been widely reported.
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Phillips was educated at Brunel University, London (1982 - 1986) and Northbrook College in West Sussex (1999 - 2004).
Phillips is a social narrative portrait painter. Her works tell stories about the subjects, encouraging the viewer to consider social and political themes.
In 2005, she completed her painting Prisoner of Concience, a portrait of Clive Stafford Smith OBE, founder of the British human rights charity, Reprieve. During her meetings with Stafford Smith she was inspired to explore issues around the death penalty in the US.
In 2007, funded by the Arts Council England, she travelled to the US to meet with a series of people impacted by the death penalty in that country[2]. In 2009, she exhibited a series of portraits at The Oxo Tower in London centred around this theme[3]. The exhibition, The Human Face of Death Row[4][5] was facilited by Reprieve, and subsequently toured in the UK[6]. During research for the exhibition, she met with Linda Carty, a British national held on death row in Texas. Her portrait of Carty has subsequently been used regularly in national and international campaigning[7] for Carty's exoneration.
In October 2011 she travelled to India with the Indian charity Bachpan Bachao Andolanon, to interview its founder, the human rights activist, Kailash Satyarthi, and begin research on the issue of child labour and trafficking. The exhibition on this issue is planned for summer 2013.
In December 2011 she completed a portrait of London Mayor, Boris Johnson, and her earlier portrait of the British journalist, Sir Charles Wheeler was purchased by Horsham Museum[8] in West Sussex.
Her work is also held in private collections in the UK and Europe.