The work was inspired by an etching in an encyclopedia that accompanied an entry about different types of bandages. As Ewen explained:

I was a bit of a wreck at the time after my year in Toronto. And as I went along with the bandaged man I began to realize it looked more and more like me. It had my body and it became very scary. When I went to bed at night I used to turn it to the wall. There’s no question it is a kind of self-portrait. Maybe it’s going too far but I’m not so sure. To say maybe I did that at a time when I was a wreck and needed bandages.

The background colour is reminiscent of the standard light green walls of a hospital, a place he was all too familiar with.

This Spotlight is excerpted from Paterson Ewen: Life & Work by John G. Hatch.