Colm Finnegan
a subsidized flat in a Belfast housing estate
Colm Finnegan is an 81-year-old butcher, a fixture in his Belfast housing estate. He has spent decades behind the counter at the local grocery store, where he sharpens cleavers before dawn and parcels up meat for customers who have become friends. Despite financial worries and the aching of age, Colm never locks his door, preferring to trust people and keep an open home, much like his open heart.
About
Obsession
Shadows of power lines like musical notation
Voice
Rhythmic and echoing, like blades
Artistic Medium
Charcoal drawings on butcher paper
Technique
Tracing and layering
Influences
Early morning conversations with the milkman, the shadows cast by power lines, the rhythmic sound of cleavers on wood
Materials
Butcher paper and charcoal; offcuts of meat
Scale
None larger than a butcher's apron
Selected 2 times · Last: April 02, 2026
