The modern face of Nykhor moves purposefully and gracefully forward, reflecting the past but owing it nothing. This powerful woman is dynamic, moving and alive. The historic wallpaper behind her shows the tiny fragment of idealism, craftsmanship and naivety that rebelled against a vast, industrial empire. Even as Morris expounded on natural beauty, the industrial machine of British empire was invading and colonising Sudan, Nykhor’s home country.

Nykhor Paul and William Morris represent seemingly oppositional aesthetic sensibilities but there is a shared delicacy in their beauty, and in the potency of their creative choices in representing that beauty more than a hundred years apart.