Ruth Hartley

Artist, Activist, Author: Storyteller

I write and paint because I am a storyteller. I have always made stories, though at times I’ve been lost for direction, identity and method. I paint to explore and share ideas and feelings.

I have lived and worked in several countries. In my art and my writing, I draw on my own stories and those of the fascinating and extraordinary people I’ve met.

Through my four remarkable children and my grandson, I am connected to other generations and enriched by different cultures and ways of being. My stories explore connections, conflict, creativity and communication.

Childhood, Art Studies and Politics

I spent my childhood and school-days in Zimbabwe.

I studied at Michaelis School of Art, Cape Town, and learnt politics in Natal, South Africa.

Motherhood, Marriage, and Feminism

In the '60s, I escaped South Africa with my first child to seek asylum in liberating London.

In the '70s, I became a mother to three more children, a wife and a feminist in England.

Mid-'70s to early '90s, I was a teacher and art gallery director in politically challenging Zambia.

In the late '90s, after a difficult marriage and painful divorce, I returned to study in East Anglia.

In 1999, I obtained an MA in Women’s Studies (1999, Anglia Polytechnic/Ruskin).

Travel, Partnership and Creativity

In 2002 I met my new partner John with whom I travelled widely. Over a year we explored 27 European countries in a motor home.

Now settled in France, I've exhibited much art and finished and published three novels, a poetry collection and a short story collection.

I continue to tell stories in art and in writing and have several more books in the pipeline.