Introduction
My name is Leah Merete Robb – a culmination of the Scottish and Danish heritage that coexists in my make-up as well as my name. Although I spent all my childhood years living in Scotland, I was quickly made aware of being different – either because of my foreign heritage or my artistic characteristics. Regardless, the combination is perhaps what has triggered my interest in studying and portraying people – especially those who are at odds with society as a whole.
Education
I Studied art at Duncan of Jordanstone college of art – Dundee, Scotland from 1996-2000, graduating with an Honour’s degree in Drawing and Painting. I concluded with an exhibition of paintings representing tarnished and weathered surfaces. I had become fascinated by the sight of a disused warehouse whose structure was now cracking and crumbling and soon to be demolished. I couldn’t help but be drawn to the textures, colour nuances and the patterns created by the rust and peeling paint. From a distance it was decay. Close-up there was beauty. I observed that this can also be true with regards to those whose life-stories are written on their faces.
Christiania Project
My interest in people continued to grow, but with the added concern about community breakdown – the isolation and social deprivation. In 2006 I visited an alternative community in Copenhagen called Christiania. That which caught my attention most was Christiania’s preservation of the community spirit despite the context of physical decay in the buildings and sadly also in many of the people who hang out there. Christiania tells many real-life stories, both triumphant and tragic and the artist can make a choice of which to portray. However, I realised that the best way for me to reflect Christiania was to portray the individual people as they saw themselves interpreted by me.