Belfast Riots - After Caravaggio

Belfast Riots - After Caravaggio is homage to the work of Caravaggio. The colours of the embroidery threads respond to the palette that Caravaggio worked with for the painting Supper at Emmaus. The handling and working of the threads in the embroidery loosely gesture towards a chiaroscuro effect. Caravaggio’s realist approach to making his work, using models picked from the street and constructing more realistic depictions of everyday life is a device that I am attempting to ape.

For this piece, I researched contemporary and historical images of rioting and bombings in Northern Ireland, and created a montage of youths rioting during the Flag protest, situated alongside a newspaper image drawn from the Omagh bombing of a young butcher trying to tend to a blast victim.