Brian Maguire: 'There were images I couldn’t use, they were just too frightening'

After previously looking at the issue of kidnapped women in Mexico, the Irish artist's exhibition at the Crawford highlights the dangerous journey by migrants crossing the border to the US 

Brian Maguire's latest paintings were inspired by tales and images from the Mexico-US border. 

Brian Maguire is that rare thing among Irish painters, one who has distinguished himself through his engagement with social and political issues.

 He has worked with prison inmates and patients in mental institutions, and in recent years, his subjects have included the disappearance of young women in Juarez, Mexico, and the displacement of refugees in Aleppo, Syria. His new exhibition, Remains, at the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, highlights another contemporary tragedy, the deaths of immigrants attempting to cross on foot into Southern Arizona from Mexico.