His name is Jack

His name is Jack


Alison Laredo

I was shocked and upset when I was told that two brothers had been brutally killed in Castlebar. I realised one of them was the man I often saw walking around Castlebar, seemingly in his own world. I later learnt his name was Jack Blaine and his brother was Tom Blaine.
The Winter of 2010 was really freezing with the temperatures reaching minus 17 degrees C. Just before Christmas, I was walking up Main Street, in Castlebar, when I noticed Jack looking in a shop window, as around him people rushed about getting ready for Christmas. Jack was shuffling along, no hurry on him as usual and the contrast between the two caught my eye.
It appeared at the time that Jack went around, mainly unnoticed, on the periphery of Castlebar life but the brothers’ tragic deaths have shown how well known Jack was and how well liked and respected both brothers were. Jack will be missed around the town and this photograph is in his honour.

Castlebar-based photographer Alison Laredo took this photo as part of a long-term project entitled Intimate Strangers which she will be exhibiting shortly