IN THE FRAME
Burnt Out
Burnt Out documents my refusal to accept tensions and casual violence in a place that should be comforting and safe. Through violent burning interventions in the images, I attempt to process my push-and-pull relationship with the council estate where I grew up and continue to live in Northern Ireland. Despite living here my whole life, I’m an outsider, failing to fit in with the sectarian attitudes and behaviour expected of me.
I want the work to feel broken, dirty and imperfect in an ugly way. The use of an obsolete and broken camera with a sentimental value creates unpredictability and lack of control in the images which mirrors the constant bombardment of political signs and acts of violence in the estate.
The project weaves together themes of the love and hatred I feel towards my home, desensitisation to violent events, and most importantly, an anger about the politicised landscape and current tensions in Northern Ireland.
Shannon Ritchie from the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University, is the winner of Photo Museum Ireland Emerging Artist Awards 2022.
