Andrew Stitt’s Shankhill Butchers knives. Stitt made copies of the knives and took part in sort of warped re enactment of the event. Stitt obviously differs from my view of NI due to his age, he grew up in the hight of the troubles and mentions that, although he comes from a protestant background, he didn’t feel the need for commentary on the background of the butchers, rather he wanted to express their brutality. He describes how he was able to look at what the Shankhill butchers were doing and deduced that he could do the same. This formed the catalyst for the performance. Stitt’s experiences of the NI troubles involved seeing real violence, bodies propelled through fences by bombs, limbs on the street. These sort of occurrences happened regularly and yet it hasn’t been long since the troubles ended.
Stitt’s work undoubtably is more visceral and violent compared to my own, but that was what he lived with, thats what most people who grew up in Belfast lived with at the time. Whilst Stitt was trying to recreate the violence of the past, I’m trying to recreate the undercurrent of mistrust and deep seeded hate of the present.
Andrew Stitt’s Shankhill Butchers knives. Stitt made copies of the knives and took part in sort of warped re enactment of the event. Stitt obviously differs from my view of NI due to his age, he grew up in the hight of the troubles and mentions that, although he comes from a protestant background, he didn’t feel the need for commentary on the background of the butchers, rather he wanted to express their brutality. He describes how he was able to look at what the Shankhill butchers were doing and deduced that he could do the same. This formed the catalyst for the performance. Stitt’s experiences of the NI troubles involved seeing real violence, bodies propelled through fences by bombs, limbs on the street. These sort of occurrences happened regularly and yet it hasn’t been long since the troubles ended.
Stitt’s work undoubtably is more visceral and violent compared to my own, but that was what he lived with, thats what most people who grew up in Belfast lived with at the time. Whilst Stitt was trying to recreate the violence of the past, I’m trying to recreate the undercurrent of mistrust and deep seeded hate of the present.
Daniel Berry Art 