Gaye Godfrey-Nicholls

The Voice of the Voiceless:

This poem was written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an American poet (1850 – 1919) whose timeless words remind us to maintain our compassion for all animals. I never fail to be moved and inspired when I read these words which epitomise the essence of the animal rights movement.

As a professional calligrapher, my principal focus is text. What I try to achieve as an artist is to capture the quintessence of my subject using colour, texture and form of letter and image. In a visual context, text is not only an immediate and effective communicator, but a powerful symbolic form distilled over many centuries.

This piece is text driven but the images are intended to connect the viewer with the animals in question – who can doubt the sentience behind those eyes?