What started out as looking over a handful of Jack The Ripper collectibles my father purchased on his trip to London, I became fairly intrigued with the Ripper murders in Whitechapel in 1888. Unfortuantely, I missed the theaterical release of Alan Moore's story 'From Hell' but I picked it up on DVD to see if it was something that I was interested in. I was hooked, moreso by the extra interviews on the DVD. Being a JFK conspiracy researcher, I found that there are similar qualities to the Ripper case; lack of evidence, limited forensics, heresay and a wide variety of suspects, to which there is no concrete proof.

My only struggle is that I did not want this to be concieved as cashing in on a killer's noteriety. However, there is a very distinct difference between Jack the Ripper and other serial killers, something dark, romantic yet twisted and horrifying. I am not sure what it is, but I think that this piece is done tastefully, mysterious and appropriate. The only thing I can say is that my intentions are to create a unique piece of work, not a glamorized marketing gimmick.

I researched the victims, the methodology of the killings and some of the proposed motivations. There is no clean cut motive, so I chose to focus on the women of the piece, and gathering items and details to form the artwork. The true nature of the violence against these women is truly horrific. I don't think that 'From Hell' accurately displayed the horrors that Jack the Ripper inflicted on his victims, nor do I think that it should have. If you read the autopsy reports of these five canonical victims, it's pretty shocking.

I scoured antique shops and Ebay for vintage photographs of women that bore some sort of resemblance to the victims (the victims are pictured only in mortuary photos and illustrations) and found a good copy of the 'From Hell' letter that is believed to be sent by Jack the Ripper. (The 'From Hell' letter contained a portion of kidney that closely resembled Catherine Eddowes kidney, in which she suffered from Bright's Disease). I recreated the individual women's wounds and bruises, stitched up as documented in the 1888 autopsy reports.

This piece has turned out to be a nice looking piece. I enjoy working with the old, vintage photographs and borders because they have a natural creepiness to them that lends itself to my style of work. Shipped rollled.