Fiona Banner creates nude studies from life, transcribing physical scenarios into verbal descriptions. These ‘wordscapes’ define the shapes and forms of the body as well as fleeting moments such as the tension in a second of shared eye contact, or a nervous finger tapping. Banner’s print is a nude study of a Paralympic Athlete. The title alludes to the extraordinary physicality of this body. She focuses on strength and physicality but also on the fragility of a human awaiting competition. Banner says ‘I liked the idea of comparing the athlete to a superhero, with some extraordinary prosthetic gift. Looking at an athlete naked made them powerful and vulnerable at once.’
Since 1912, each Olympic host city has commissioned one or more posters to celebrate the hosting of the Games. Over the course of the last century a body of iconic work has been created and previous artists who have created a poster include David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and RB Kitaj.
