The Essex mother who sold Malala painting for £51k

Shivani Chaudhari

BBC News, Essex

Alexandra Johnson has sold her works for tens of thousands of pounds

Grove Gallery Alexandra is beaming at the camera. She has shoulder length brown hair and is is wearing a navy blue or black shirt. She appears to be standing inside at one of her exhibitions, with her artwork on a wall behind her. — Alexandra Johnson has sold her works for tens of thousands of pounds

Alexandra Johnson was already grieving her mother’s death when Covid-19 hit the UK in 2020.

As a former city trader, she had no formal art qualifications, but she nonetheless decided to manage the boredom and channel her grief by painting in her kitchen.

The mother-of-three has gone on to sell her works – painted exclusively with a palette knife and spatula – for five-figure sums.

Earlier this month, her portrait of Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai sold for £51,200 at the prestigious Bonhams auction house.

“I always go for powerful women, not for [their] jobs and career, just for their inner strength,” said Johnson, who lives in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

Johnson said she found inspiration in Malala Yousafzai, a young woman who was shot by the Taliban for going to school

Grove Gallery A painting of Malala Yousafzai, who appears wearing a red headscarf that is covering her head and her eyes. She is not smiling but has a kind expression on her face. — Johnson said she found inspiration in Malala Yousafzai, a young woman who was shot by the Taliban for going to school

Johnson left her job as a trader in 2002 to become a full-time mum.

She became a full-time carer for her own mother in 2017 after her cancer diagnosis, and Janet died in February 2019.

The 53-year-old recalled how “we were really bored” when the first lockdown was imposed and she was still “fresh in grief”.

“I don’t think I’d spent five hours painting [at that point] but during lockdown the pace of life had become a lot slower,” she told the BBC.

“I wanted to see how good I could be.”

Her “amazing” mother served as an “inspiration” for those early paintings.

Janet had already sacrificed her own health by giving a kidney to one of her brothers when she was 60 years old.

The artist works exclusively with a palette knife and spatula to create textured paintings that explore femininity and resilience

Grove Gallery Two painting of different women. One women has her eyes closed with her face forwards. She has big red lips and her hair is loose and wavy. She looks happy and peaceful. The second woman is looking to the right. She is wearing statement earrings and her hair is tied up. She also has her eyes closed and her face looks peaceful. — The artist works exclusively with a palette knife and spatula to create textured paintings that explore femininity and resilience

The painter said she was forever in awe of how women supported other women in times of crisis, and she described how her work paid “homage” to their “strength and grace”.

She says her paintings explore memory, femininity and resilience.

“I pull from my experiences. It’s personal, it’s my feelings on a canvas, my favourite pieces are anything that are of my mum.

“I found it so therapeutic.

“I only do women, and I’ve had some really low points in my life and the women in my life just pushed me through.

“We come from a big family of powerful women.”

Women wear many hats and spin many plates, she explained: “We take on so much.”