I started this painting as India went into its first lockdown in March 2020. It felt like the world had come to a standstill with the arrival of this frightening global pandemic which people were grappling to understand but.... seasons can’t be put into lockdown. Mango season was on the cusp of beginning and during the course of painting this, mangoes became plentiful in Delhi: a boon to the soul, a present pleasure to the senses and signalling a hope for the future that as Julian of Norwich said: “All shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well”.

Olivia Fraser, 2021