Sophie Kamlish was just 14 when she got her first running blade. There was – quite literally – no stopping her then. But as she tasted glory and became a three-time Paralympian, she never forgot that it was a charity, Ready, which ultimately helped her to make her dreams come true.
This is idea of giving back is one of that motivates Sophie as she displays her work in the upcoming Art of the Athlete exhibition at Zari Gallery in Fitzrovia, London. With proceeds going towards the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and the Lloyd Cowan Bursary, she’s delighted that her art can make a difference to others.
Sophie explains: “It’s nice to be able to impact other charities and help people doing sport because otherwise I would not have got a running blade in the first place.”
People will find Sophie’s art to be playful, cartoonish and full of distinct comic elements. Using bright colours often made with pen and most recently gouache paint, her skillset is one that she honed while studying a degree in Illustration and Animation at Kingston University.
Indeed, it was art – not sport – for this world-class athlete, most looked forward to while at school.
“I’ve always been obsessed with withdrawing,” she explains. “I think that could partly be because of being disabled. You can be in the hospital drawing. You can be anywhere and draw.”
Sophie adds: “I think art and the artistic lifestyle work quite well with being disabled and not being able to sit up or stand up for long periods of time. Being able to choose your own hours is very useful too!”
Sophie’s athletic endeavours, however, are currently what she’s most known for. Within three months of getting her blade, she was a British record holder in sprint and was quickly selected to represent her country at the Paralympics in London in 2012. She was just 16 at the time.
Art might have fallen on the back burner, but it never went away. In fact, it soon became the yin to her yang. According to Sophie, her fellow teammates recognise her as ‘the weirdo who brings a drawing book to everything’.
She says: “I’m always going to enjoy drawing – it’s engrained in me! If I’m ever feeling anxious then drawing will always calm me down.”
Sophie’s art is about much more than just expressing her creativity and unwinding. While she’s the first to admit that her depictions aren’t designed to be ‘super realistic’ and instead rely on block shapes and vibrant colours, Sophie’s work is often still layered in personal meaning.
One of her pieces, for example, explores how the media portrays disabled people.
Sophie reveals: “I think a lot of my work revolves around that sort of commentary and I would like to spread those sorts of messages.”
For Sophie – who lists painter Frida Kahlo as an artist who inspires her – the immediate future is very much focused on what she can still achieve in the world of sport. Having now competed in the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil and the 2021 Paralympics in Japan, she remains driven by hitting new goals in the sprint.
But art will continue to run alongside sport. These days you’ll still find her training for around six days per week. The time away from the track, however, is often dedicated to her art.
She explains: “The calmness and steadiness of animation versus the high intensity of sprint training go well together.”
In the meantime, Sophie is excited about the opportunity to show her work to a wider audience. And – for the young girl who first found herself juggling a passion for both art and sport during her teenage, she wants to send the message that these two talents can actually go hand in hand.
“At school, the arty kids and the sporty kids aren’t the same people – but hopefully that’s changing,” she says.
“You can be a lot of different things at once and I do try to encourage that.”
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