Little Boys Room (2025)
Oil and Dutch gold leaf on canvas
90 x 90 x 4.5 cm
This painting is my personal artistic expression in response to the materials I explored about the worldwide church scandal involving the sexual abuse of children.
The idea for this painting developed in my mind over a couple of years after I read multiple articles in The Irish Independent and The Irish Times and began researching the topic further.
I’m not going to recount every gruesome detail that people endured, but I incorporated certain small details in this painting that stayed with me. The kinds of moments people mention in their interviews, the triggers that memory can latch onto and relive over and over again. Reliving that experience…
Details like: the fingers touch or feeling of cold buttons against bare skin. Certain smells. The shine of jewelry or shoe buckles. The sound of footsteps… By recognising who was coming, kids were able to tell if they were going to be okay for the night, or if someone might be in trouble…
In certain cases, extra attention from a priest or church worker could cause jealousy and aggression among the orphaned kids. But no one was special in the end – only deep trauma for life…
In the painting, there is a queue of boys standing and waiting with anticipation or horror. Some might already know what will happen in that little boy’s room. Some might not yet…
I didn’t put any door handles on the door in the painting because, as somebody said, if you were chosen, there was no escape…
Holding Thoughts on Your Own (2025)
Oil on canvas
55.5 x 48.5 x 4.5 cm
