The New Creation (Purple & Green), 2022

Previously inspired by Uccello’s Saint George and the Dragon and the motif at Southwark Cathedral, this piece took on new life when the artist layered in ideas from books on feminism and soil preservation. Working in a favourite awkward circular format, Kirkham reimagined the Dragon not as a villain at the end of the legend, but at its very beginning, in the Garden of Eden.

Mystic biblical commentaries describe the first humans, ‘The New Creation’, as emerging scale-covered from paradise. As innocence fell, so did the scales, leaving only faint reminders on our fingers and toes. Here, a scale-skinned humanoid form (joined at the back) steps into a world of innocent, curious dragons, unaware that this new creature will one day trigger their own ruin.