Original artwork description:

The shocking events happening in the UK this August 2024 reminded me of these paintings I did in August/ Sept 2011, responding to the last time there was unrest in the UK.

The image of this painting is expressing a moment from the August 2011 riots which began in London and spread throughout the UK. The painting captures a moment of three lads caught in the midst of the maelstrom - the moment of a breakdown in society and the rampage of teenagers and the disenfranchised.

I was drawn to this event due to the apparent senselessness of the unrest and chaos - yet in all of this there was one clear realisation in these events. This was not civil unrest for change in a system that began with the shooting of a young man in London - but from the abject poor who felt they were no longer represented by anyone who could speak for them in the halls of power.

Here they looted and destroyed shops and buildings in their respected communities - in-part hurting themselves, yet psychologically this seems to have not worried those who were creating the devastation - they were making a clear message - they wanted goods and they were getting them, regardless of the consequences.

However, one can see that here is a clear indication that they were not aware of their unsatisfied appetites for technological equipment, thinking they would give them satisfaction - unaware the only way they could possibly satisfy their hunger for representation, to be listened to, was finding people who could represent their generation in the political system, bringing change for a generation Z who seem lost, unsure of their direction to find salvation, peace and a new beginning in a world heading deeper into austerity and economic change.

The answer to the problems is quite evident: Change the economic system away from one that creates and needs poverty to exist.

Materials used:

Oil Painting on Canvas

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