Yorkshire doctor immortalised in artwork for NHS heroes on This Morning

Dr Anneka Biswas-Abrol, who lives in Queensbury and works at Calderdale Royal Hospital, has been immortalised through art after being on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus.

The project has been spearheaded by Rosalind Freeborn, an artist from London, who created a paper collage portrait of mother-of-one Dr Biswas, which is now being used during the introduction to ITV’s This Morning.

Ms Freeborn said: “I’m a paper collage artist and specialise in portraits. I put the announcement on my Instagram account and her husband Rohit Abrol responded.

Join our new coronavirus Facebook group for the latest confirmed news and advice as soon as we get it www.facebook.com/groups/yorkshirecoronavirus“He asked me to make a portrait of his wife, Anneka Biswas who is a doctor. She’s a consultant specialising in respiratory medicine across Calderdale and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

“She’s been on the frontline since the Covid-19 outbreak dealing with patients from all over West Yorkshire and it’s been a very harrowing time for her.”

Using torn magazine pages and a variety of textures, the portrait shows Dr Biswas-Abrol in her scrubs and a face shield, which was created with a mix of blue and clear cellophane.

“She’s beautiful but all you see in her work environment is her lovely eyes peeping out of all that PPE,” said Ms Freeborn.

“I wanted this piece to be an historical document, so I selected headlines and articles from many of the newspapers I’ve been reading over the past few weeks and decided to surround her with coverage of the pandemic.

“It was helpful many newspapers had printed quite reflective pieces about the outbreak, charting its beginnings at the end of 2019 through the process of lockdown and the ghastly impact of people who have become ill and died.”

Dr Biswas-Abrol said: “I absolutely love it and couldn’t believe it when Rohit showed me. It’s amazing because I’d been saying I really should keep a scrapbook of newspaper articles and now I don’t need to.”

Ms Freeborn said she was inspired to take up the project after BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz asked artists to create portraits of NHS key workers, initiated by portrait artist Tom Croft with hashtag #portratisfornhsheroes.

------------------------

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor