Date:
2016-2018
Guernica in Manchester Re-Representation was developed through further research that considered connections between the Spanish Civil War and the North West of England. A number of portrait studies were made of ‘brigadistas’ from Spain, making reference to the photographs of Robert Capa, and then focussing on Civil War fighters from the Manchester area. This led to the discovery of a blue plaque in Tameside Library, Ashton under Lyme that commemorated the life of James Keogh. The only existing photograph of James Keogh was found in a local newspaper’s report of Keogh’s escape from a torpedoed boat off the Catalan coast when he was travelling to fight in Spain in 1937, after leaving Ashton without informing his family of his intentions. James Keogh was killed at Calaceite in Aragon in March 1938
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A number of portrait studies of Che Guevara, referencing Korda’s iconic photograph from 1960 were made alongside these brigadista drawings and were developed further in Looking at A Conversation… works.
