Maria and I have been working on a theme we have called #SistersSeen in which we have been exploring the role of artist and muse from the point of view of a sibling relationship. Maria has sketched, and sometimes painted, me throughout our lives and through this project we have been reflecting on how this kind of being seen – the loving gaze of one who wants only to notice, protect and nurture, has been so important to us, emotionally and creatively.

Maria’s drawing world has mostly existed privately but I have long wanted her to share it and I think the process of collaborating is creating a safe and organic way of bringing it into the light. Last year I asked her to draw specific images for The Biscuit Tin and Sequinned Skirt and this year I have been asking her for drawings from the past tucked away in notebooks, folders and visual journals.

Maria drew the picture you see here when I was barely twenty and she a little older. At that time our eldest sister Beccy would come to Maria’s apartment to hang out until 3.00am when her partner finished work in town, bringing baby Alex with her in his carry cot. I was living at Maria’s then too (rescued again from homelessness), and we would chat, dance and Maria would sketch.

It gave us plenty of precious holding time with Alex, our first born nephew. This drawing is so redolent of those nights; in its lines I still feel the soft weight of Alex in my arms, the warmth and delicacy of the skin on the top of his head, a shared memory etched through Maria’s pencil.