Four Ideas For A New Town, #1

I photographed the figures in this black and white scene in the Bogside in 1981, after hungerstriker Patsy O’Hara’s funeral. The boy on the right is wearing a Celtic scarf with holes cut out for his eyes. He’s staring at me, because he heard my accent, I think, and was worried about who I was.

The figure on the left is holding a clutch of petrol bombs. The middle foreground is a country road outside Newry. I had to excise a couple of other photographers who were in the original scene. You can see the original photos at seanhillen.com.

The picture incorporates images of young rioters in black and white against colourful images of modern Britain, as if to suggest a feral darkness threatening all normality.