Top Irish artist Kevin Sharkey has told how he came back from homelessness to become more successful than ever.
“Being an artist means life is fraught with good times and bad times, mistakes, lessons and successes. One of his fans is Irish-based art collector Mel T Sutcliffe, whose personal gallery contains works by Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, Jack B Yeats and Lucien Freud. His fortunes fell in the recession and things worsened until he ended up homeless six years ago, dependent on sheltered housing for a number of months until he found accommodation.
He’s come back from the brink and says after his eventful life, he sees our time here as a series of chapters, some good, some bad. He grew up in Killybegs in Co Donegal, after being adopted by a family, and was, as he says: “The only black kid in the county.”“My identity has never been in question - but when people look at me, they see my father and not my mother. They’re looking at me like I’m a black man and I’m thinking: I’m a Donegal man. I’m as Irish as they come, I had 37 medals for Irish dancing at the age of 11.
He adds: “It was traumatic, but I always understood I was in a very unusual situation and took mental notes of what was happening. It’s a story of love and violence and forgiveness and healing, racism and aggression. All the things that shape you as a person. Despite a troubled start - or perhaps because of it - he went on to be a trailblazer in Irish life: activist, artist and at one stage, presidential candidate.