Commemorating a delightful woman
It’s International Women’s Day in 2024.
The City Lit Gallery is lined with striking artwork: X-ray scans, blood bags and sculptures that resemble brain and bone. The words “This Delightful Woman” loom large on the walls.
The exhibition was created by City Lit student Susannah Goulding. It was her first solo exhibition and explored her experience of living with incurable metastatic cancer. For many visitors, it was unforgettable.
Two years later, the artist, filmmaker and award-winning student has passed away. It is a loss felt by many at the college. Susannah had become an integral member of the City Lit creative community in her final years.
Her time at City Lit was unique, as every student’s is. But her story remains a poignant reminder of education’s power to give purpose and help people reach new heights, irrespective of circumstance.
Starting at City Lit
Before her diagnosis, she had spent years directing films and adverts. Creativity had always shaped her life, but illness changed everything. She lost not only her health and mobility, but much of the identity she had built around her work.
Rather than let her illness control her, she turned towards art. She enrolled on the ‘Contemporary Practice’ and ‘Developing Art Practice’ courses at City Lit. She excelled, developing into a talented artist in between bouts of intensive treatment.
Her work confronted the physical and emotional realities of cancer directly. “I realised that my motivation was to create a visual language that talked about cancer in a much more honest, aesthetic way,” she told us two years ago.
The art challenged the stigma around cancer. It opened up meaningful discussions about the human impact of the disease. But the process of making the art also rebuilt Susannah’s purpose at an extraordinarily difficult point in her life.
“I’ve also learned the benefits of creativity for wellbeing,” she said. “There’s a saying that ‘creativity cannot cure, but it can heal’ and that’s really what my learning has given me.”
VIDEO: Susannah Goulding discussing how she found City Lit after her terminal cancer diagnosis.
Becoming an award winner
Susannah touched so many with her generosity, openness and creative wisdom. Her tutors and peers often acknowledged that they learned as much from her as she did from City Lit.
In 2023, she was given an ‘Outstanding Learner Award’ at the City Lit Awards to recognise this. The next year, she gained national recognition by winning the ‘Learning for Health’ award at the Festival of Learning Awards.
Even as her health declined, she continued speaking publicly about creativity, cancer and mental wellbeing. Last year, she appeared at City Lit’s Mental Wealth Festival, discussing the relationship between illness and artistic practice.
Susannah’s legacy
Many will remember Susannah’s artwork. But those who knew her well will remember her curiosity, honesty and refusal to allow illness to define the limits of her creative life.
Speaking about her, her tutor Ian Tucknott said, “She became an inspiring beacon of resilience, leaving both fellow students and tutors in awe of her dedication and passion for art.”
Her story is also a reminder that education can offer far more than professional development.
“Adult education is increasingly being reduced to a narrative about utilitarian skills and employability,” City Lit Principal Mark Malcomson explained, “Those things are important, but only a small fraction of what we do.”
He continued, “Supporting both physical and mental wellbeing and creating connections and communities are as important, if not more so - and Susannah’s time at City Lit gives testament to that.”
Susannah Goulding’s work and influence will continue to be felt across City Lit for years to come.
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