Dr Will Hunter

Jane says: "Meet Dr Will who works in the A&E of East Surrey Hospital. Will was proposed by his friend. It was wonderful to meet him and I loved that he chose to take part with such vulnerable honesty.

The project #portraitsforNHSheroes initiated by Tom Croft is a brilliant way in which we artists can use our gifts to say a very heartfelt THANKYOU to our #NHSheroes.

I suspect more than a few NHS personnel feel slightly uncomfortable with the ‘hero’ label, or even to be called ‘brave’, after all, (infectious) diseases and trauma are what they trained to confront on any normal day - and yet these are not normal days. Each day they go to fight a war, bereft of weapons with which to fight this particular battle; they go knowing that today there might be somebody they won’t be able to save. To us out here, a life lost is a number reported in the daily death count (….that I should ever have to write that sentence), but to those on the frontlines of this pandemic the number is irrelevant. What they see and feel firsthand, is the grief of a family thrown into profound loss. There are no normal days anymore, and many of these wonderful humans are having to process all of this whilst in deep isolation themselves, deprived even of the simplicity of a wordless hug that can help shore up a soul. They are being asked to carry a tremendous emotional burden on our behalf and so deserve every drop of love with which we can possibly surround them.It was an honour to be entrusted with capturing the gravity of this moment, and I was humbled by the authenticity and vulnerability shared with me.

Will says that putting together the reference images for the portrait, encouraged him to fully process and consolidate the emotions he was experiencing at the time."