The Uprising Series is a visceral exploration of the world in flux, an abstract reflection of the tensions, pressures, and movements that shape our geopolitical landscape. Through layered textures, fractured forms, and emotionally charged compositions, this series captures the collective energy that rises when people confront injustice, inequality, and the shifting balance of power.
Each piece channels the raw emotion behind global uprisings: the spark of resistance, the weight of oppression, the chaos of conflict, and the fragile hope that emerges in moments of change. Rather than depicting specific events, these paintings translate the feeling of political unrest, the pulse beneath the headlines, into colour, structure, and movement.
In The Uprising Series, borders are symbolic, structures distort, and tensions build and release, mirroring the dynamics of real-world struggle. My aim is to draw viewers into the emotional undercurrent of geopolitics, inviting them to witness not only turmoil but also resilience, unity, and the powerful human desire for transformation.
This series is a tribute to the voices that rise, the systems that shift, and the moments when silence breaks and change begins. For inquiries please contact mcalpinesofniagara@gmail.com
Revolt in Gold” was shaped by the memory of the 2025 No Kings protests, when millions of voices rose together to say they would no longer bend to a crown.
The red in this piece is the pulse of that moment, anger sharpened into courage. The blue is the breath beneath it, the quiet resolve that carried people forward even when the streets burned with uncertainty.
The black strokes are the old structures straining under the weight of collective defiance. And the broken gold crown is the heart of the story, authority cracked open, its shine no longer enough to command obedience.
This painting is my reflection of a people discovering their power, and choosing to stand unruled.
Stretched Canvas 24" x 36"
$180
Private Commission - The Barbed Gospel is a visual meditation on how sacred language can be reshaped into a tool of power, pain, or exclusion. At the center of the painting sits a barbed-wire crown, an unmistakable symbol of suffering, but here reimagined through the lens of contemporary politics. It represents the moment when compassion, meant to be the heart of faith, is instead tightened into something sharp, restrictive, and punitive. The crown becomes the boundary through which scripture is filtered and weaponized.
On the left, the greens carry the weight of hope, renewal, and the spiritual promise of shelter; yet they are clouded and disrupted, suggesting how ideal compassion becomes obscured by political noise.
On the right, the pinks and reds represent human vulnerability, flesh, struggle, and the raw emotional reality of migrant families whose lives are shaped by decisions far beyond their control. These tones pulse with urgency and fragility, reminding the viewer that real people stand behind ideological arguments.
Across both halves, the deep black forms stretch and loom like shadows of authority, echoing the presence of political figures who invoke scripture to justify exclusion. Their shapes blur into each other, reflecting the way moral clarity becomes distorted when faith is used as a shield for policy rather than a guide for empathy.
Together, the colors and the crown form a single statement: when the Gospel is twisted into barbed wire, it no longer protects, it wounds. The painting asks the viewer to confront this tension and to recognize that faith, at its core, is meant to liberate, not confine.
Stretched Canvas 24" x 36"
“This painting uses the simple outline of a paper boat to speak to one of the most complex and human issues of our time, the migration crisis unfolding along England’s shores. The fragile, folded vessel becomes a symbol of lives placed into delicate, makeshift hope, boats never built for oceans, yet forced into them by desperation.
The swirling layers of green, blue, and violet create a sense of shifting waters and uncertain skies. The deep blues suggest cold, unforgiving seas, while the purples and greens bleed into one another like blurred borders, echoing the uncertainty migrants face as they navigate systems, coastlines, and the unknown. Scattered dots and textures drift across the canvas like debris, rain, or distant lights—each mark a reminder of individual stories often lost within political headlines.
The paper boat floats at the centre, outlined in stark white, representing both innocence and vulnerability. Though made from something as temporary as paper, it holds an immense weight: the weight of escape, of survival, and of faith in a safer place. In the context of England’s migration crisis, the boat stands in for the small inflatable vessels crossing the Channel, symbolic of risk, resilience, and the will to keep moving despite the odds.
This painting does not point fingers; instead, it focuses on the human experience inside the crisis. “Tide of the Displaced” invites the viewer to reflect on the fragility of the journey, the depth of the waters being crossed, and the quiet courage of those who trust a thin boundary between them and the sea. It is a reminder that every crossing, no matter how small the vessel, carries a life hoping for solid ground.
Stretched Canvas 16" x 20"
$80
This piece exposes the violent truth hidden behind one of the world’s most admired symbols of luxury: the diamond. At the centre of the painting, a sharp, geometric gem appears to glow with deep reds and bruised purples, colours that evoke both beauty and suffering. Its facets look precise and luminous, but the colour pooling within it resembles something spilled rather than polished, hinting at the human cost embedded in stones mined in conflict zones.
The swirling greens, dark blues, and purples around the diamond create a chaotic atmosphere, almost like a storm of earth and shadow. These layered textures echo the landscapes scarred by unregulated mining and the lives uprooted in regions where diamonds finance violence and exploitation. Each blot, smear, and drip acts as a reminder that the gem’s clarity comes from a place of contamination.
The white outline of the diamond stands in stark contrast to the darker background, symbolising how the industry often presents a polished surface that hides the brutal realities beneath. The downward-pointing shape suggests a burial, something beautiful pressed deep into the ground, weighed down by the blood that stains its origins.
“Buried in Blood” asks the viewer to look past glamour and question what shines and why. It holds a mirror to the uncomfortable truth that luxury can come at a devastating price, and that even the most dazzling brilliance may carry a shadow no polishing can erase.
Stretched Canvas 16" x 20"
$80