The ex-city trader who sold Malala painting for £51k

Alexandra Johnson was already grieving her mother's death when Covid-19 hit the UK in 2020.

As a former city trader, she had no formal art qualifications, but she nonetheless decided to manage the boredom and channel her grief by painting in her kitchen.

The mother-of-three has gone on to sell her works - painted exclusively with a palette knife and spatula - for five-figure sums.

Earlier this month, her portrait of Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai sold for £51,200 at the prestigious Bonhams auction house.

"I always go for powerful women, not for [their] jobs and career, just for their inner strength," said Johnson, who lives in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

Johnson left her job as a trader in 2002 to become a full-time mum.

She became a full-time carer for her own mother in 2017 after her cancer diagnosis, and Janet died in February 2019.

The 53-year-old recalled how "we were really bored" when the first lockdown was imposed and she was still "fresh in grief".

"I don't think I'd spent five hours painting [at that point] but during lockdown the pace of life had become a lot slower," she told the BBC.

"I wanted to see how good I could be."

Her "amazing" mother served as an "inspiration" for those early paintings.

Janet had already sacrificed her own health by giving a kidney to one of her brothers when she was 60 years old.

The painter said she was forever in awe of how women supported other women in times of crisis, and she described how her work paid "homage" to their "strength and grace".

She says her paintings explore memory, femininity and resilience.

"I pull from my experiences. It's personal, it's my feelings on a canvas, my favourite pieces are anything that are of my mum.

"I found it so therapeutic.

"I only do women, and I've had some really low points in my life and the women in my life just pushed me through.

"We come from a big family of powerful women."

Women wear many hats and spin many plates, she explained: "We take on so much."

Johnson - who works under the name Zara Muse - sold her first painting "Angelique" in 2023 for £22,500. Shape of Stillness went for £47,500 in December.

The painting of Malala was was put up for sale at Bonham's after it was put forward by one of her loyal collectors.

Malala, now 27, was 15 when she was shot in the head by the Taliban on the way home from school.

"Malala represents strength and bravery — the kind of woman I want to celebrate through my work."

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