The family of a brilliant young artist found dead at a Tube station are hoping that an inquest into her death will “leave no stone unturned” in addressing their concerns about safety on the London Underground.
Sarah Cunningham, 31, died at Chalk Farm station last November. Police had been investigating her disappearance at the time.
Her body was found in a Tube tunnel two days after she had been reported missing.
Her death provoked an outpouring of grief from the art world. Ms Cunningham, who was living in Wandsworth, was a resident artist at the Lisson Gallery near Marylebone.
Colleagues described her as “a supremely talented” and a “force of nature”. Her work had been included in exhibitions in Berlin, Los Angeles, New York and Vancouver.
The inquest into her death is due to be held at Poplar coroner’s court on Wednesday.
Her family – parents Eddie and Sue Cunningham and her brother Anthony Cunningham – say the “have questions regarding the safety of TfL's platforms and stations”, according to their lawyers, Leigh Day.
They have launched an online CrowdJustice fundraising campaign to raise £50,000 to fund specialist legal representation in a bid to maximise the opportunity for the inquest to answer as many questions as possible about Ms Cunningham’s death.
In an accompanying message, they tell how they have been left “devastated by Sarah’s untimely death”.
She had wanted to be an artist since the age of six. She “lived and breathed her art” and received an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in 2022.
She had recently returned from South Korea where her work was being exhibited at the Burberry store.
“She was on the rise to stardom exhibiting in Berlin, South Korea, Aspen and Vancouver, and with solo shows at the internationally renowned Lisson Galleries in Los Angeles, New York and London,” her family said.
“Sarah’s work had been exhibited across the world, and she was described as a ‘talented, intelligent, sincere and original artist’ with her work depicting abstract nature, which Sarah always felt deeply connected to.
“Sarah had incredible plans for her future. She was planning to visit her parents the following day, New York with her best friends, Africa and Beijing next year to exhibit her art.
“However, no accolade given to Sarah would ever make up for how immensely proud we were of her for just being her – humble, hilarious, creative and endlessly kind.”
The family said it was the “absolute worst time” as they searched for her after she went missing.
They said: “We were heartbroken when Sarah was found on the tracks at Chalk Farm station 48 hours after she went missing.
“As a family, we have questions regarding the safety of TfL’s platforms and stations. We do not feel that anyone has investigated our daughter’s death properly. Our only hope for answers will be the inquest proceedings.
“No family should have to lose someone in these circumstances, no parent should have to lose a child in these circumstances, and no brother should have to lose his sister in these circumstances.
“If there are any lessons to be learnt, we want to make sure that they are highlighted so that no other families are affected this way.
“We want to make sure every stone is unturned in our search for the truth about what happened to Sarah.
“The little we have been told so far has been totally shocking. As a family we ask how this could have been allowed to happen at a major Tube station on the London Underground.
“Sarah was not a statistic, she was an incredible person, a human being, and we want her death to be thoroughly investigated. If Sarah was alive, she would want to form part of a solution to this problem.
“Sarah lit up every room she walked into. She was a beautiful daughter, and we cannot tell you how much she is missed.”
Representatives from TfL are among those due to give evidence to coroner Mary Hassell.
TfL has faced a growing number of questions over the way it responds to deaths and serious injuries on London’s public transport network.
In February, mayor Sir Sadiq Khan made a public apology to a woman whose fiancé was killed in a car collision as he walked home across a road.
The Lisson Gallery, in its obituary of Ms Cunningham, said she painted “soaring abstractions suffused with feeling and life”.
It said: “Her paintings are intuitive and pure with the raw power to immediately foster connections with others – qualities reflected in the artist’s own indomitable character.
“She worked in a searching and experimental manner, re-working and dismantling each painting, often turning them upside down or re-stretching sections to create new conjunctions and multiple viewpoints.
“Cunningham leaves behind a body of paintings that continues to morph and grow in front of our eyes, alongside poems, notes and sketches that accompanied each research project and every new show.
“She was a force of nature herself, a painter’s painter, at ease with brush, oil and the handmade tools she created to extend her reach across her vast canvases, strewn as they were on the floor of the studio amid a sea of materials and references.
“She was a supremely talented, intelligent, sincere and original artist and our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and those loved ones she left behind far too soon.”
