Francis Bacon is one of the most acclaimed British artists of the 20th century, and continues to drive debate and drop jaws to the floor in awe. Similar to art, politics strives to reinvent itself - reconceptualising modes of thought which were previously taken for granted.
It is with this in mind that I found a critique of Francis Bacon that further reflected political 'self's' in the Middle East. As with Bacon's work, it is the violence as the subject-matter which has been most often studied - it is the horrifying communication of an isolated individual; the pain in the paintings reflects back to Bacon himself.
This can be said about images of political violence and social upheaval today, it is a reflection of that country's problems and clearly there is some explanation for why this has happened.
But momentum in this political day and age is an underestimated quality, and this is also illustrated in a reinterpretation of Bacon's work. It is important to note the instinctive and emotional reaction the viewer feels when seeing his work - the pain of the viewer is key as it is his work's moving quality which captures the sense of our self.
As an art, a performance, an event - the political theatre in recent weeks in Tunisia and Egypt reflect this second interpretation. Having been inspired by images of political change elsewhere, they identified themselves in the scenes they saw on the televised medium - the faces on the screen are not others' but theirs. It is this moving quality of political theatre which has created the momentum that few world commentators could have envisaged at the start of the year.
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