TURNING HIS LENS INWARD His upcoming exhibition at the Belfast Exposed Gallery, Tripwire, will feature his most personal work yet, focusing on his childhood memories during “The Troubles.” It is a brave and unusual step for the artist, offering a first-person perspective that promises to be as raw and authentic as all his preceding works. “There are plenty of fabulous photographers, filmmakers, writers, poets, journalists, and musicians who have told their story of growing up in the Northern Irish conflict. However, there are precious few artists or painters of note out there who have approached this subject. Certainly, in respect to telling their own story, or experiences and feelings from a first-person approach,” he notes. Priestly rarely paints self-portraits, but has created 22 new ones for Tripwire and incorporated lyrics from popular songs of the time into the pieces. “The hook of the song lyric or a childhood naïve comment in the form of a diary account, lulls the unwitting viewer into a place of familiarity and comfort before waking them up sharply with the realisation that all is not well in the picture and the story being told,” he says.
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