The title only reflects my thoughts involved in this story. That story is best read in Joshua Hammer’s book ‘The Kalinka Affair: A Father’s Hunt for His Daughter’s Killer’.

Artist's note:
As a child I spent some time in an isolation room in a mid-Victorian hospital that had not seen many changes in the 100 years that passed until my ‘stay’ in the early summer of 1976. Each morning at around 4.30am the sky would fill with the familiar yet primal sound of crows and the tops of tall pines would be contaminated with a silhouetted mass of movement in petrol black wings. This stark visual left a lasting impression on me and became singularly associated in my mind with trauma and oft times - death.The story of Kalinka Bamberski is one I would urge you to read.

Sub note: this work is the first I have painted that depicts the actual subject of the story and not a figure chosen to best convey the message behind the visuals.