NICHOLAS MULROY

I can’t stop thinking about this picture today, where the violence of nature is horrifyingly mirrored in the breathtaking human brutality of the painting’s full title, Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On. Look how the raging foam on the left threatens to devour the unsteady ship. More importantly, see how humans, chained up, are left to drown in the storm, abandoned, and swallowed by the unrelenting elements. This painting is based on real events and real people: in 1781, aboard the slave ship Zong, the captain threw overboard 133 slaves in order to be able to claim lucrative insurance for lives “lost at sea”.