After seeing leopards living in the wild on safari, artist Harriet Gillett became inspired by the animal’s complex symbolism. Leopards commonly represent power, status and rebirth. In mythology, they are status symbols associated with wealth often depicted alongside gods. Leopards are apex predators and incredibly powerful in their natural environment and yet they are also an endangered species at risk of extinction, a situation perpetually exasperated by their relationship with humankind. The artist was drawn to this contradictory mixture of power and vulnerability. Depicting them crying and paired with comforting lyrics, Gillett’s limited edition print ‘Words won’t reach’ encapsulates her personal anxieties about the future whilst blurring the lines between strength and weakness, self and other, melancholy and hope. The phrase ‘words won’t reach’ captures the sadness of not quite being able to communicate. In the artist’s wider practice animals have become symbols of the misrepresented ‘other’. They represent her wish to mend a fractured relationship with nature that seems at odds with the contemporary environment.

See Harriet Gillett’s artist profile and other print