Inescapable Truths

(2017-2020)

Bradley McCallum’s series of paintings, collectively titled Inescapable Truths, draws attention to the plight of journalists and ordinary people at war through the eyes of conflict journalist James Foley (1973-2014). 

Working in dialogue with the James W. Foley Foundation, McCallum was granted access to Foley’s video archive. Born in Rochester, New York, Foley was a compassionate storyteller with a camera, capturing intimate moments framed against the panorama of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria. Foley was working in Syria when he was abdicated and later murdered by a group of terrorists from the Islamic State (ISIS). 

McCallum selected, cropped, and repositioned key image sequences from Foley’s video reportage in Libya and Syria that are not only records of war but expressed his values and sense of the world. McCallum’s artistic editing of Foley’s video information produced new images and meanings that became the basis for a series of memorable paintings of war. 

Like the long track shot of a film, which situates the viewer in the world of a film, the artist immerses his audience in his paintings to tell a heartfelt story about journalists, soldiers, terrorists, rebels, ordinary people, innocent civilians, and the landscapes in which they moved.  

This 3 year project was produced and supported by Conjunction Arts in dialogue with The James W. Foley Foundation.