An Ammanford voluntary worker who has spent the last 20 years assisting at Morriston Hospital has been chosen by artist Amy Jackson as one of the nine works in her NHS Portraits series.

Morfa Owen began volunteering in the hospital’s WRVS shop in 2002 before moving over to the Health Board Volunteer Service in 2014 where she now works on the hospital’s main desk.

“Morfa welcomes people as they arrive and she listens to anyone who needs to share their problems,” commented Amy Jackson.

“Morfa has made the regular journey from her home in Ammanford to Morriston Hospital for the last 20 years so I felt it was important to celebrate the hard work and commitment she continues to show.”

All of Amy’s works are carried out using the pointillis style, which means the portrait is created using thousands of tiny dots.

Morfa’s portrait took over 200 hours to complete and consists of thousands of tiny dots, each painstakingly applied to create depth and texture to the picture.

The series is currently on display at Singleton Hospital and forms part of Amy’s Gobath/Hope solo exhibition.

“The venue feels very fitting as I was born prematurely at 24 weeks, weighing just 1lb 9 ounces," continued Amy.

"So I spent quite a bit of time at the SCBU, and what makes this even more special is the fact that Morfa is herself a long-serving SBU volunteer.”

Amy began working on her nine portraits during the first lockdown which means that each piece was inspired by the loss and destruction that the pandemic brought to people’s lives.

“Their insulting one per cent pay rise has made it even more prevalent that the NHS staff and volunteeers deserve much more recognition than they're currently getting," she concluded.

"This is my way of illuminating just a tiny minority of workers as the past two years have shone a light on everything they do and proven just how important their work is. 

"Each portrait has prompted an amazing response and it’s been so lovely to hear that they’ve brought a smile to each of the recipients’ faces. ”