Artist Statement - Lewis Hamilton

My work is a portrait of a seven time world champion, Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton is a Formula One

driver for Mercedes AMG. He works against F1 officials to obtain societal change and create a safe

environment for members of the LGBTQ+ community and People of Colour within sport. The message

behind my artwork highlights the fact that as the only black F1 driver, Hamilton was able to tie for the

most world champions (7) and won the most Grand Prix’s (103). He proves to everyone that he is above

racial stereotypes and he can be much more when he isn’t put into a box. He is an inspiration for many

young kids that aren't given opportunities and Hamilton proves that with hard work, anything is

accomplishable. To create this piece of art, I used a variety of materials. I used a graphite pencil along

with pencil crayons to draw a portrait of Hamilton’s face and racing suit. For the background I used black

tissue paper to highlight his accomplishments and cut out news articles from 2008 to show the first time

he won a championship. The background is a medium shade of cyan to represent one of the official

colours of his team, Mercedes AMG. I explored the use of different mixed media techniques to create a

piece of artwork with a powerful message.