Description

This piece is inspired by two moments. The first one was when I came across a news clip of an 80-year old priest being arrested by a hoard of policemen for peacefully holding a sign calling for an end to genocide at Parliament Square last year.

The second one was when I walked past a bin which had a bouquet of fresh red roses in it. This made me wonder how it got there and what its story was…Because there had to be a story.

These two moments really caused me to reflect about the absurd experience of living in the UK at the minute. Specifically, the interconnection between the personal – such as a cancelled date, a breakup, cancelled hospital visit (or any other reason this bouquet was binned) – and the political, such as the violent and increasing repression of peaceful protests and democratic rights by the UK government.

The title and weather in the painting reflect a sense of foreboding and that historically, ignoring the public and ‘binning’ democratic freedoms will only create bigger problems down the line…