This image is photographic representations of a painting by the artist Caravaggio. The image has been created using the ‘painting with light’ technique. This is a process where I paint the composition over a long exposure using a small torch.
This year will see the 20th anniversary of my friend Mark contracting the HIV virus. When Mark found out about my Caravaggio themed project he contacted me and asked if he could represent a specific image. He wanted to be painted as Caravaggio’s ‘Young Sick Bacchus’ (1593) He wanted to do this as a way of representing the past 20 years of his life. Mark was only 18 when he contracted HIV and has spent his entire adult life receiving treatment to control it. He is very aware of his own mortality, unlike anyone else I have ever met and his outlook on life has often given me a different perspective on my own existence. I believe it is very easy to take things like our health and our futures for granted. Even though Mark has lived for 20 years with such a heavy burden he has not crumpled under it. Mark is, and will always be, an example of how life carries on, regardless of adversity or circumstance. This image represents the power of the human spirit against the psychological and physical frailty of body and mind.