Myth vies with gritty social realism on portrait shortlist
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
The depiction of an anonymous Belfast drug addict has made the shortlist of this year's BP Portrait Award, to go on display at London's National Portrait Gallery.
Ian Cumberland's Just to Feel Normal, depicting a friend of the painter, shows "what can happen if your situation in life deteriorates", according to the artist, who is based in Co Down.
"He doesn't do a lot, he is lost," said Cumberland, who preferred not to name his subject.
Also on the shortlist is Manchester artist Louis Smith's portrait of a naked model, Holly, handcuffed to a rock, which the artist describes as a "re-imagining of the Prometheus [myth] in female form". Prometheus was chained to a rock by Zeus as punishment for stealing fire from the gods.
Completing the shortlist is Sertan Sultan's Mrs Cerna, of a girl brandishing a knife, and Wim Heldens' Distracted, showing a 25-year-old philosophy student leaning against a wall.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments