CRAFT DRIVEN BY EMPATHY In his “Missing” collection, for instance, involving American women who disappeared, and were likely murdered, at truck stops and train stations, Priestly chooses to focus on the victims rather than the perpetrators, challenging the news and entertainment media’s fascination with criminals over victims. He reflects on how growing up in Belfast, in a neighborhood that has seen so many horrific acts of violence during the Troubles, gave him empathy for the victims of murder and assault. “If something unspeakable has happened to someone in a place, does it seep into the soil? Can people who come by feel it?” he speculates. He presents these stories in a way that exposes the biases of law enforcement and society based on race, class, gender, and occupation. These pieces also serve as an implicit critique of the consumerist American Dream for a better life: criminals who come to believe they are entitled to “consume” and possess other people kidnap and kill women who are often traveling out of small towns for greater opportunities. One of the more stirring aspects of Priestly’s work is his ability to empathize deeply with his subjects, particularly those who have suffered historical injustices. In his collection “The Shopgirl,” he tackles the bleak existence of Victorian London’s store clerks, whose lives were fraught with health problems and societal limitations. Priestly also explores the lives of women imprisoned in the infamous Magdalen Laundry asylums.
In collections such as “Die Kleinen Geister,” which looks at prostitution in 19th-century Vienna, or “I Am Not,” focusing on the American civil rights movement, he engages with topics often ignored or sidelined in fine art. The paintings embody the struggles and victories of his subjects. In his “I Am Not” series, Priestly captures iconic images from the fight for equal rights for Black Americans. “The images depicted are of peaceful protest, segregation, death, despair, defiance and belief,” he points out. His “Harlem” collection extends this visual narrative, and his “Crossing the Line” series offers a poignant look at the bitter-sweet story of Jesse Owens, the Olympic gold medalist, who defeated Nazi Germany’s athletes on the field only to face discrimination and poverty at home. Yet, Priestly brings a sense of beauty to these works of social documentary through his rigorous dedication to craft. In “Die Kleinen Geister,” he evokes the atmosphere of the interiors of Vienna’s newly opened department stores through using gold and silver leaf, continental peacock blues, rich ochres, and regal purples. In ‘I Am Not,’ he incorporates text into his pieces printed in typefaces of the period.
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