“The Twelve Stories Series of works formed part of my latest solo exhibition at Salon Ninety One (Cape Town), Memorial, and foregrounds an introspective consideration of living and dying with regard to the recent pandemic, but in the body of each painting I have chosen to focus on the complexity of a unique, lived experience within a shared reality. Lockdown has given me the means to connect with the individual character of each work through more extensive planning and refining of paintings. As sites of reflection, the works in Memorial carry in them my experience of a particular international reality while becoming, over time, unique markers for looking back at this moment in history. ‘Twelve Stories’ is my attempt to create a grid of 12 works which is one piece, yet at the same time each piece functions as a unique individual. The challenge was to create a series of artworks that are mutually complimentary in relation to each other, and in some way offer a reflection of humankind as a whole.” – Paul Senyol