The words were like razors.  These slogans had stayed on my mind since I first saw coverage of the general strikes in March on X, and in recent weeks I had a sudden burst of artistic energy (and a good dose of hypomania). I could not help but make a piece for the dead and injured of Tempi.

Around this time, I planned a number of other political pieces, including: one to the 750 drowned refugees aboard the Messenia in the Mediterranean, June 13th; a contrasting companion piece highlighting the media attention paid to OceanGate’s billionaires’ lethal adventure, June 18th; and other pieces. A week after Murder of Tempi, I completed my piece on Kit Klarenberg's Detention, which was the only other political work of the spate I was able to finish.

I saw a photo of the crash, and drew what I saw. By the time the photo was taken, there was more smoke than any fire, but depicting the fire was, regardless, essential in conveying the horror of the tragedy.

I wanted to paint it as if it looked like graffiti hastily scrawled on a wall, and I added yellow highlights to the chalk outlines of the train to electrify the image. The sky overhead was filled with scarlet clouds like red mists of blood, and red wire was drawn over the text to evoke the red strings of life between those whose lives are bound up together.

Fresh blood  was hastily added to the windows, and I drew the exposed wires in red like veins, though most are obscured in the final image. The letters were rendered as steel, in honour of the resolve of the crowds, especially in the face of police violence. To increase legibility, red spraypaint was added behind the text: I was thinking of the logo from V for Vendetta.