In his four decades as a curator, publisher and gallerist, Matthew Higgs has supported many artists\u2019 careers, including those of his contemporaries Jeremy Deller, Martin Creed and Peter Doig when they emerged in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
Higgs also champions artists from alternative backgrounds \u2013 those who are self-taught, say, or have developmental or cognitive impairment \u2013 and his latest discovery is one such person. Christine Hazell is 88, has progressive memory loss, and had never made art until six months ago. She has since created more than 200 drawings, which have rapidly gone viral on Instagram, inspired a following, and will feature in four scheduled exhibitions. She is also Higgs\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the best example of outsider art I\u2019ve seen in Yorkshire \u2013 made with real purity and no commercial motivation<\/p>\n
What began in May was an idea of Higgs\u2019s sister Gaby, an architect based between London and York, where Hazell lives in a 17th-century terraced cottage. Discovering coloured pencils and drawing pads left behind by her now adult children, Gaby suggested her mum try to copy some family photos, to occupy her days. Hazell\u2019s first drawings captured the faces of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and family dog, Kizzy. Since then she has produced new drawings every day. \u201cMum can spend 10 minutes or two hours on each portrait,\u201d Gaby says. Taken by Hazell\u2019s absorption in this activity, she began sending them in phone messages to her brother.<\/p>\n
\u2018She says it\u2019s her job to \u201cspoil\u201d perfection\u2019 \u2026 Hazell\u2019s portrait of her daughter, Gaby Higgs. Photograph: Christine Hazell<\/p>\n
Since 2004, Yorkshire-born Higgs has lived with his wife, the American artist Anne Collier<\/a>, in New York, where he is director and chief curator of White Columns<\/a>, the city\u2019s oldest alternative art space. He was intrigued to discover that drawing had ignited something in his mother.<\/p>\n \u201cIt struck me that these were significant drawings by an elderly person who had never drawn before. I\u2019d be fascinated by anyone who began making art in their 80s,\u201d he says of his decision to share them on social media<\/a>, as we sit at the kitchen table where Hazell creates her drawings. The fact that the artist is his mother \u2013 who no longer recognises her family members but is engrossed by the process of drawing their images \u2013 makes it all the more meaningful to him.<\/p>\n Because of Hazell\u2019s condition, what happens during that process is unknowable, but Higgs observes a certain progression. \u201cShe has quickly acquired a distinctive style and an independent view of the world by translating photos into drawings.\u201d When making her portraits, she chooses what to leave out and what to amplify. \u201cI made a video this week of mum drawing my nephews and niece when they were little,\u201d says Higgs, \u201cand she mentions how perfect they look in the photo. She says it\u2019s her job to \u2018spoil\u2019 that perfection, which she does by disrupting it in her drawing. She also described her drawing of a cat that looked \u2018like a nightmare\u2019. It\u2019s about giving her subjects a different face.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Never too late\u2019 \u2026 Christine Hazell at work. Photograph: Gaby Higgs<\/p>\n For him, it vindicates the idea that we are all inherently creative: \u201cAllow someone the time, encouragement and resources to be creative and it will most likely happen.\u201d<\/p>\n There has been a surge of interest among Higgs\u2019 65.3k Instagram followers, who react with wonder to his weekly posts of new drawings. Attracting praise from Tracey Emin (\u201cSomething so good going on here, and shows it\u2019s never too late\u201d), Pulitzer prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz and Tate Britain\u2019s director Alex Farquharson, the drawings have inspired collaborations with UK gallerists.<\/p>\n Florencia Clifford and her partner Hugo Hildyard, who own and run Partisan<\/a>, a York restaurant and exhibition space for emerging art, will show Hazell\u2019s first selection, depicting 24 subjects from across Yorkshire, under the title Different Faces. \u201cI was amazed when I saw those early posts,\u201d Clifford says. \u201cI knew immediately I\u2019d like to exhibit the drawings if I could. Christine\u2019s art is magical and moving \u2013 a freedom of expression without self-consciousness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It only gets more interesting\u2019 \u2026 a portrait of curator, publisher and gallerist Matthew Higgs, by his mother Christine Hazell. Photograph: Christine Hazell<\/p>\n Next July, London\u2019s Studio Voltaire<\/a> will show another group of drawings. \u201cThere\u2019s such care and consideration in the line-making and the forms,\u201d says its director Joe Scotland. \u201cThe fact that Christine has begun making art at 88 sits within our interests \u2013 creativity can come out at any age and we\u2019ve been very influenced by White Columns in terms of broadening our platform of support.\u201d<\/p>\n At the Blacksmith\u2019s Shop<\/a>, East Yorkshire\u2019s outsider art gallery, owner-curator Mark Ibson will include Hazell\u2019s art in his August 2026 summer show. \u201cIt absolutely meets our criteria,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s the best example of outsider art I\u2019ve seen in Yorkshire, made with real purity and no commercial motivation.\u201d After that, Hazell\u2019s drawings \u2013 whose latest subjects include musicians and actors \u2013 will cross the Atlantic to hang in White Columns.<\/p>\n \u201cIt only gets more interesting,\u201d Higgs says. \u201cMum is becoming more confident, more certain of the way she edits a photo into a drawing. It\u2019s amazing that someone\u2019s ability to visualise things can accelerate so quickly, when in other aspects of their life things are slowing down.\u201d<\/p>\n Christine Hazell: Different Faces will show at Partisan, York<\/a>, from 17 December to 1 March<\/p>\n