The first drawings reflected the lockdown news with the national message ‘STAY AT HOME’. Including the date is an important part of Claudia’s drawing practice, marking the moment in time the drawing was created. During lockdown, with Claudia’s usual active weekly routine entirely changed, time stopped still, and the date no longer featured in Claudia’s drawings, whilst we all stayed at home and life seemed on pause.

Claudia creates striking drawings of recurring subject matters such as portraits of herself, her mother, and her sister, as well as her passion for music, song titles, and musicians. Writing is a vital element in Claudia’s work. She always writes her name and the date the work was created, as well as frequently including song lyrics and names of particular singers. Often her written ideas merge together, creating intriguing titles for work.

The exhibition title Crack Crack Crack is taken from a day’s drawing featuring portraits of Claudia, her sister Dionne and mother Elaine. The origin of the words Crack, Crack, Crack is unknown, but they represent a strong day of drawing.

Another important element of Claudia’s drawing practice is displaying the works. Using a square-format paper, Claudia sticks up each drawing in a tile-like formation to showcase each set of drawings. These mini exhibitions of a particular subject pull out subtle changes in the series of drawings that Claudia creates. Names and titles change, outfits change colour. The tiles build up a mosaic of Claudia’s experience of this time and the references that continue to inspire her.