This is a framed print of a digital piece I created for the recent Summer Solstice. Now I don’t like Summer. I really don’t. I don’t like the relentless heat and noise and light that so many others seem to love. And many of the worst things that have ever happened to me have happened in the Summer, so the whole season is a set of unpleasant, traumatic associations for me. One of the things that most terrifies me about climate change is that we’ll find ourselves locked in an endless Summer under a burning sky. So the idea behind this piece was to create a character who would protect the Winter from the devastation being wrought by humanity, who would keep the cold safe. I was inspired by mythology, which often used characters to embody the seasons. So this Warrior is a champion born of the shorter days and longer nights, a hybrid of human and animal, male and female.For anyone else looking forward to the Autumn, this one is for you.

Damian Mark Whittle