At the BSR responsibilities were at a distance and the chores of daily life were reduced to a minimum. I was offered the opportunity to follow through an interest in Roman wall painting, which had been initiated on a residency in Naples many years ago.  Similarities in the techniques of fresco to my own practice and the sense that I could mine the sophisticated design and colour of the ancients for my own uses gave me a great appetite to study the paintings in situ and from them to realize my own work. 

— Gina Medcalf