Yusuf Paul McCormack (1963-2021) was an Artist, Poet, Writer/Author and Trainer, based in Rugby, Warwickshire. He took early retirement from the civil service in 2015 and wrote his first verse in November of that year. It was an epiphany moment and, consumed, Yusuf wrote solidly for the next 12 months about his childhood growing up in children's institutions.

In December 2016 he began to translate his written work on to canvas, where he attempted to explore the emotions that he was unable to voice as a child.

His work explores the world he experienced, felt and witnessed as a child who was illegitimate, mixed raced and rejected.

Yusuf’s art was his intuitive way of working using memory and imagination as a way to develop his own style. He used his combined experiences as an artist, a child of the state, to inform those who genuinely want to improve and sustain better outcomes for those who never chose their start in life.