I did not seek out danger... it found me

In The Fire Portrait, young English artist Frances McDonald finds herself isolated and alone in a rural community in South Africa during the Second World War. Leading up to the war, many of the locals would prefer to remain neutral but as a Dominion of the British Empire, South Africa would have been expected to follow Britain and her allies. However there had to be a vote in Parliament in Cape Town to decide the country's position. Narrowly, the members decide to vote in favour of declaring war on Germany. Frances's husband volunteers for the Allies and is posted to join British forces in North Africa.   

And this is where life starts to get dangerous for Frances. Opposition to the war manifests itself in a subtle turning away by her friends, while in the country at large a secret organisation embarks on a campaign of sabotage. Frances herself becomes a victim when her home is fire-bombed. As she picks through the burnt debris, she happens to see herself reflected in a cracked mirror. On an impulse, she picks up a piece of charcoal, finds a loose sheet of paper and draws her face. Ash on her fingers creates the shadow beneath her eyes, a smear of blood symbolises the flames, a jagged line shows the crack in the mirror. The perpetrator is known, but never brought to justice. The war ends, and the country votes into power the party that will take South Africa down the path of apartheid.  

I did not seek out danger, Frances writes in her diary. It found me. 
And I drew what it did to me. 
In the novel, The Fire Portrait becomes an iconic artwork, and is exhibited in a gallery in London to international acclaim. A modern classic, is the consensus. A Mona Lisa for the age of Cold War, budding civil rights, uncertain freedom. And a portent for what is to come in Frances's adopted country.
Haunting portrait hints at turmoil, headlined one newspaper. 
Fractured society, says another. 
An omen, says a third...   

And thank you to my wonderfully talented friend who imagined - and then created - this moving image of Frances in The Fire Portrait...