Tangier Imagined

Jose Tapiro Baro, a 19th century artist, painted the most exquisite  watercolour portraits during his time in Tangier. His work has significantly inspired my portraits.

A Collection of One-of-a-Kind Portraits by Lee-Ann Rodwell

This series began with a feeling rather than a place - the pull of old fabrics, forgotten portraits, and imagined lives from another time. Though the name Tangier suggests a location, these are not literal representations of a city or its people. They are characters born from my love of storytelling, theatre, and the textures of history.

Each portrait in Tangier Imagined is a work of fiction. I think of them as timeless figures: adorned, weathered, dignified - neither real nor unreal, but dreamt into being through layers of oil, glaze, and intuition. Many of them feel familiar to me, as though I’ve met them before in some other life.

The series is also a quiet homage to craftsmanship - to the faded beauty of worn textiles, intricate jewellery, and ceremonial dress. There’s reverence in the detail, and in the silence each figure holds.

These paintings are not about identity or geography. They are about presence - about what lingers when language falls away.

Each work in Tangier Imagined is a one-of-a-kind collector’s piece. Many of the works are large at 1.5 metre square.