Crown & Cage by Alissa Lamb

Poppy Graham is twelve years old and Alissa Lamb’s daughter. Crown and Cage began as a portrait of Poppy but became something more, a meditation on the protective structures we build from childhood. Inspired by psychotherapist Dr Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems framework, which conceptualises the psyche as a collection of sub-personalities, the rigid gold geometric cage surrounding Poppy represents the protective parts we develop to keep ourselves safe. The crown speaks to the self within, the core identity that exists beneath those structures.

Born and raised in Brisbane, Poppy sits at the centre of it all, composed and steady. Lamb, who came to painting after a career in behavioural studies, brings both personal and intellectual depth to this quietly complex portrait of a daughter.