Born Free is deeply distressed to hear of the recent death of much-loved artist and long-term Born Free Patron, Pollyanna Pickering.

Pollyanna was a true inspiration in the world of wildlife and art. She supported many animal causes, including Born Free, and was the most published fine artist working in Britain.

She was an extraordinary individual and it was her individuality, and her individual passion, that she brought to conservation. Through the Pollyanna Pickering Foundation, she supported dozens of organisations around the world dealing with rhinos in Africa, wolves in Ethiopia, orphaned polar bears in the Arctic, and many more. 

Will Travers OBE, Born Free President, said: “I think Pollyanna had such an amazing influence because she lived it. She didn’t just sit in the studio and work from photographs, she went into the field with her daughter Anna-Louise and brought back a sense of reality that oozes from her wonderful art. You can’t be anything other than absolutely blown away by how very, very real it is, and yet with real character as well. It’s not a reproduction of a photograph, it is the essence of the animal that she captured in her work.”

Polyanna Pickering with Virginia McKenna OBE