Favourite Paintings: 'Guernica' by Pablo Picasso

'Guernica' is probably one of the most famous paintings in the world. It commemorates the bombing of the town of Guernica in 1937 by the Germans and Italians at the request of Spanish fascists during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso painted it in black, white and grey and the painting became an instant success, went on tour to raise funds for war relief and ended up in the USA since Picasso refused to allow it to go to Spain until the fascists had finally been defeated and a republic was instituted. When I first saw reproductions of it it was held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and was only sent to Spain in 1981. I first saw reproductions of it in 1976 when I did art at school and only saw the painting for the first time in 2016.

I saw the painting in Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid in 2016, in a room on its own with no photos allowed and the huge painting was flanked by two security guards to protect it and its image rights. The room was quite crowded and silent, people standing back from the terror in front of them. The dead and dying women and children, the fatally wounded animals, the bull, Picasso's symbolic animal, it's all there to be drunk in by sober eyes and silenced the normally chattering students. I knew it was big but didn't realise it was that big. It was an astonishing sight.

The painting is forever linked to the events it portrays and to the politics surrounding it, and Picasso's republicanism and refusing to allow it to be displayed in fascist Spain. It remains a powerful statement against war and oppression.

Favourite Paintings: 'Revolutionary' by Wadsworth Jarrell

I saw the painting 'Revolutionary (Angela Davis)' by Wadsworth Jarrell at the 'Soul of a Nation' exhibition at Tate Modern in 2017, an exhibition about art by black artists in the civil rights years in the USA. It's a portrait of Angela Davis, the activist and teacher from the '60s onwards. It's a screenprint rather than a painting but I won't let that stop me referring to it as a painting.

Jarrell was a member of the AfriCOBRA group of artists in Chicago (they had the great title of African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists). The painting is made up of words and phrases from Angela's speeches and civil rights slogans. She is dressed as a revolutionary and the bandolier across her shoulder is filled with coloured chalks rather than bullets. It's an incredibly powerful image. I wonder what Angela thought of it back in the day and what she thinks of it now.

Angela Davis was on the most wanted list in the USA when she was on the run in the early 70s and became a cause celebre around the world, the Ono-Lennons even wrote a song about her (on 'Some Time in New York City'). I read her autobiography in about 1976. She still lectures and gives talks around the world and is still a social activist. Her life can't be separated from the painting and neither can the times it was created in - Jarrell created it to be popular and attractive to get the word out and in that it succeeded.