ISRRT_COVID-19_book

Leslie Robinson
Lockdown: exploring life beyond radiography
What happened to me during the pandemic and lockdown? I ate too much, moved too little,
developed a craving for rum and coke and, at the age of 58 and following a successful career
as a diagnostic radiographer, I became an artist. I’ve been asked to tell you this story; how I
have gone from radiographer to artist and, in particular, how the COVID-19 pandemic has
helped me find my voice through art.
I must have displayed some kind of a talent for drawing when I was a child as I remember my
dad buying me an oil painting kit. I was about 12 years old. I don’t remember asking for the
paints but he clearly recognised potential and decided to see where the oil paints would take
me. He was that kind of dad. I had no idea how to use oil paints and there was no such thing
as Youtube. I had to learn through experimentation. The same way, years later, I would come
to learn how Magnetic Resonance Imaging works – using eggs and pate (but that’s another
story).
I remember the first thing I ever painted was an African village scene (fig 1). People were just
standing and talking. It was a copy of a photograph I had found. The painting was crude but it
captured the essence of what I felt and that’s what’s important in painting. I was captivated
by the light, the long cast shadows and the muted earth colours which are prevalent in that
part of the world. I was especially intrigued by the people, what were they talking about?
Their body language was interesting; how they leaned into each other to listen. Imagine, a 12
year-old being interested in such things.
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