David Hart Self Portrait

David Hart is a political activist who has been actively involved in many campaigns and is currently actively engaged in the pro democracy movement in support of Aung San Su Kyi in Burma. He also leads the national palliative care service user involvement group, Nothing About Us Without Us.

In collaboration with Robin Blackledge, Rosetta Life artist in residence at Trinity Hospice, David Hart created this series of self portraits.

Robin and David wrote about the process: "The act of shaving one's hair came from discussions about Burma and we quickly decided to document David's hair being shaved. In this context it can be discussed as poltical act (an act of solidarity with monks in Burma), an act of purification, an act of individual choice over chemo imposed hair loss in the treatment of cancer an of course, a potent symbol for the process of purification and preparation for death."

Inspired by David Hart's series of images, Rosetta Life has formed a partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and we are inviting 50 hospice users to explore aspects of themselves as they live with dying.

We hope that some people will choose to share these images publicly and those selected by the participants will be exhibited at City Hall, London.