British artist Sarah Cunningham’s death deemed “accidental”
Rising star in the art world, Sarah Cunningham, went missing last November, and now, a new inquest has determined that her death was accidental.
Two days after Cunningham’s family reported her missing on November 2nd, the Metropolitan Police informed the family that they had discovered her body in a search at the Chalk Farm Tube station. She had been on her way home after an evening with friends.
On April 9th, London’s Poplar Coroner’s Court determined that Cunningham had jumped down onto the track at around 3:30am. before walking into the tunnel. Reportedly, a train hit her 18 minutes later.
In a statement sent to Artnet News, the coroner said, “Although she jumped down onto the track rather than falling, she did not form the intention to take her own life.” The report stated that the artist was intoxicated at the time.
A forensic toxicologist told the inquest that it was not possible to determine the amounts of alcohol and drugs in the body. However, he could report that Ms Cunningham had used cocaine and ketamine before her death.
In light of this news, Cunningham’s family have called for changes to the underground transportation system. They demanded that Transport for London (TfL) to take “swift and strong action to ensure what happened to Sarah could not happen to anyone else,” and that “passengers, vulnerable or not, should be able to expect their safety as a bare minimum when travelling on the TfL network.”
Sarah Cunningham’s art career
Cunningham’s art is internationally renowned, having been exhibited in major cities worldwide. The artist recently returned from South Korea after her work was showcased by leading luxury fashion house Burberry in Seoul.
Furthermore, Cunningham’s recent exhibition, Flight Paths, had just concluded a run at the Lisson Gallery in Los Angeles.
Before it launched, the Nottingham-born artist explained the message behind the exhibition, stating, “I imagine myself in flight when I am painting, scanning over the surface, searching for places to deep dive, touch down or lift off. The paintings are journeys between the space of my body and the space of the outside.”
In 2019, Cunningham’s I will look into the earth won the Djanogly Art Award and the Ali H. Alkazzi Scholarship Award, which provided her with a platform to complete her studies. Cunningham graduated with a Master’s from the Royal College of Art in 2022, and her first exhibition, The Crystal Forest, took place at the Lisson Gallery in London last year.
