The Legacy Ladies

 

The Backstory: Creation Before Understanding

Some artworks are intentional. Others appear unannounced—complete before we realise their purpose.

In early 2024, I had surgery and was forced to step away from drawing and tattooing for two weeks. It was a strange kind of stillness. The moment I could hold a pencil again, I picked it up with no plan, no outcome—just the need to reconnect.

What came out were two tall figures. Grounded. Flowing. Powerful.

They felt feminine, timeless, and composed.

I didn’t know what they were or why they arrived. I just knew they mattered.

The Sketch: Drawn Without a Destination

They weren’t made for a project or a purpose. I wasn’t thinking about my book. I simply drew them because I felt like drawing.

Months later, when I began working on the Skin to Steel cover, they resurfaced.

At first, it was just the figures—no archway, no mirror, no setting. But when I considered what should sit on the cover, they were the first thing that felt right. It was instinctive. Natural.

They fit, without needing to explain themselves.

The Turning Point

In the months that followed, life felt increasingly uncertain. I was carrying a lot—mentally, emotionally, financially—and struggling to find clarity in the noise.

Eventually, I took some time out in the Blue Mountains to recalibrate. To be quiet. To listen.

And there, something shifted.

It’s hard to explain. It was visual, expansive, and clear—as if I tapped into something beyond myself. Not imagined, but accessed. Like a current, or a channel, opened up.

The Vision: A Moment of Recognition

In that space, I saw them again—those same two women I had drawn without knowing why.

Only this time, they were standing at an archway, with a mirror between them. The exact composition that had emerged later for the book cover, now appearing in full clarity.

And in that moment, it all made sense.

They weren’t just decorative. They were symbolic. Anchored. A message I had captured before I could consciously understand it.

The Design: From Sketch to Steel

I call them the Legacy Ladies.

Their form has Art Nouveau sensibilities but feels timeless—measured, elegant, and strong.

They deserved more than paper. So I translated them into steel—cut with precision, built to last.

The Guardians of Vanta

Seeing them in metal grounded the whole experience.

They became a reflection of what Vanta stands for: stillness, strength, vision, and permanence.

They became the face of Skin to Steel.

Not because I designed them to be—because they always were.

The Legacy

They’re more than just panels. They’re markers of a shift.

Guardians of something internal and external.

A reminder that sometimes the most important pieces arrive before we’re ready to understand them.

They were never random.

They were waiting for me to catch up.

Make a Statement in Steel

The Legacy Ladies are now available as part of the Vanta collection—a pair of steel silhouettes designed to hold presence in a space.

For those seeking meaning and beauty with weight behind it, they’re ready.

Let’s create something lasting.