Description
This painting doesn’t just depict a working-class gathering — it mirrors Ryan’s inner world before the trauma. Back then he was loud, alive, and fun — like the men in the painting. Even the chaos felt real, even the noise meant connection. His world had colour, laughter, friction, and meaning.
But after the trauma, everything changed. He became quieter, often standing alone in dark corners to escape from crowds. Disconnected. It was as if he’d stepped out of the painting, watching from the outside, unable to return to that raw, messy, beautiful aliveness. The dissociation appeared as a longing to connect with people who had been through the same sort of trauma as her had, because he felt like no one he knew could understand what it was like to be kidnapped.
