the Kate Greenaway award with her first book, which also went on to be nominated for the prestigious, international Bratislava Biennial of Illustration. There’s a drama and a theatricality about much of Olivia’s work. “I enjoy playing with scale,” she admits, “and have been very inspired by the incredible mask and puppets that form parts of the storytelling traditions of different African countries and communities.” Discussion of puppets leads Olivia to reflect on how she would love to return to working in three dimensions again. “I was a big admirer of The Handspring Puppet Company even before they came to fame with Warhorse as they are long-standing collaborators with William Kentridge who is my all-time favourite idol.” One of the appeals for Olivia in Kentridge’s work is his ability to try his hand at different techniques. “Everything he does, whether its animated films or charcoal drawings, has a quality. He’s a real polymath. He does theatre collaborations, adaptations and films. He just does it all and I love everything he does because at the basis of his work is an ability or willingness to bravely sometimes sacrifice some of the artistic quality of an image to help aid telling a story. “His stories are very much based in humanitarian interests, often but not exclusively, about apartheid in south Africa. They are about the human condition and that’s why, for me, he speaks louder than any other artist working today, because his work is so full of humanity.”
That humanity is something Olivia’s own work shares. Another notable influence for her is Alfred Wallace – “A merchant seaman who was a great artist but painted on cardboard and didn’t ever consider himself an artist and who became the unwitting founder of a whole artistic movement.”
Olivia also effuses about Nkisi Nkondi whose figures she describes as being “amazing and totemic. I’ve always loved those and found them a particular source of inspiration when I was studying puppetry and the spirit paintings of the Australian communities. They are so spiritual it’s like verging into a completely different territory to those from the West.”
Olivia feels art offers an opportunity to connect with elements of our shared heritage and ancestry, adding: “The origins lie in when we made paintings on the walls of caves and were carving figures as hunter-gatherer people but still had this desire to create.”
For Olivia, the ability to act on that innate desire to create is one of the challenges working in modern times, while “trying to find a way in which your work is meaningful and functional. Making nice books is important, of course, but how is art not just a commodity for those who are privileged enough and wealthy enough to be able to access it is a question I often think about. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with creating. It’s what I most want to do most, but at times I find some of my thoughts and doubts almost prevent me from doing it.” Olivia elaborates, explaining that “over the past years I’ve had a massive amount
10 PEN&INC. Autumn-Winter 2025
of time when I’ve struggled even to set foot in my studio, which is not good. You need to be on your seat at your desk before having any hope of creating any work. There’s a big part of me that has doubts. I have doubts about the role that we can play as artists and how we can make our work useful.” One of the doubts Olivia has experienced a lot is the imposed sense of sanctity that often accompanies art. She describes this
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