‘Fallen Leaves’ is one of a series of over a hundred works, collectively titled ‘Modern Fears’, which explicitly invoke death and decay. The artists have said of this period that “we felt the style of the Western world, the fabric of its life, was very threatened”. With this body of work they presented both the bleak horror and great beauty of life as they saw it in their immediate urban environment. The series depicts many figures who appear to be disenfranchised from mainstream society. ‘Fallen Leaves’, for example, depicts close up the inscrutable features of a local tramp.