The artist claims ownership of her identity in this series of autobiographical works. In these Boyle stands to the centre of the painting, as a child and as a woman, looking out to the viewer.
‘The unflinching regard of her brown eyes projects a private persona – in which raw vulnerability and her defiant self- assurance as a painter are inextricably one’
– Philip Vann, Art Writer, The Next Generation Self Portrait Collection
‘She goes readily to the past, her past, in the powerful work Mrs. Fordes Kindergarten and in the Strangers Now – Foster Children. These works serve as a description of the female child and woman in Ireland. In this they sit easily beside the work of artist Marlene Dumas’
– Brian Maguire, Painter, Ireland