Saturday 16 November, 2024

Artist turns homophobic tweets sent to Tom Daley into beautiful portrait

The Olympic diver endured homophobic abuse after he came out last December.

A UK ARTIST has used hateful tweets directed at Olympic diver Tom Daley to create an altogether more positive and powerful statement.

Manchester-based artist Conor Collins created this portrait from the words of homophobic tweets sent to the Daley after he came out last December.

My finished portrait of @TomDaley1994 made out of the homophobic tweets sent to him when he came out. #art pic.twitter.com/SUjrknKal9
— Conor Collins (@conartworks) April 17, 2014

Conor Collins / Twitter

Here’s a closeup:

Hopefully should be able to finish my portrait of @TomDaley1994 made of the homophobic tweets sent to him by today pic.twitter.com/DzSmFCvpvx
— Conor Collins (@conartworks) April 17, 2014

Conor Collins / Twitter

Conor told Buzzfeed that the homophobic tweets sent to Daley struck a chord with him, as he feared coming out himself for the same reasons:

They weren’t directed at me, but in a way they might as well have been. If someone expresses hate for Tom Daley falling for someone of the same sex, then they do it for everyone who does that.