No stranger to London art galleries (although usually it’s Tate Britain for its collection of Turner paintings) but in a first for Gordon’s, A Level Art student Ruby Parsons will visit the Royal Academy to view her own piece hanging in their Summer Collection! For her portrait, of her sister lying in bed scrolling through TikTok videos, has been selected to feature in this iconic annual celebration of art and artists, co-ordinated by British painter David Remfry RA.

“It’s really cool”, enthused Ruby adding: “As soon as I found out I was calling all my family and my nan was saying ‘my granddaughter is famous!’ – not quite nan.” 

The piece forms part of her A Level personal study project looking at teenage girls. “My project explores the experiences of teen girls specifically. I was thinking about how they have been represented in art historically, including often being over-sexualised. My sister is my muse for a lot of my paintings, which I am very grateful for.” 

“I went into her room and she was lying in bed, on TikTok, and she had this pink LED sign above it and I asked if I could take a picture of her. Then I just stood on the end of her bed, holding the camera above my head hoping that I was taking a cool shot. It’s her way of shutting off, just lying in bed passively scrolling. It could be for hours. They talk about addiction but not why we are addicted in the first place. It’s ritualistic, a form of escapism.” 

Ruby’s picture will be exhibited for a month at the Royal Academy and she and her family will travel up for the private viewing. She said: “I’ve never been to the Royal Academy before. It's weird that the first time I’m going is to see a piece of my own.”