McCall takes the call to highlight the issue of domestic violence
SAOIRSE Ronan and Hozier commanded the cover of You Magazine in the Saturday’s edition of this paper. The pair had just released the Cherry Wine video to accompany Hozier’s new single. It’s a clarion call to highlight the issue of domestic violence.
The track was released last week to benefit 22 domestic abuse charities worldwide, and was written by Hozier from the male perspective of an abuse sufferer. The video for the track — which premiered on Valen- tine’s Day — stars two-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, in a moving portrayal of a woman dealing with a physically abusive relationship.
The signature picture that graced the cover of the magazine for the #FaceUpToDomesticViolence was taken by celebrated photographer Barry McCall, who has been working with the duo for over five years.
He told me this week how proud he was to work with such a worthy project. ‘It was fantastic to be involved because there was such a strong response to the video and the song,’ he said.
‘I’ve worked with both Saoirse and Andrew [Hozier] for over five years now so it was great to be asked to contribute.
‘They trust me, which is a big responsibility.’
Barry has famously worked with almost every Irish A-lister in the business, from Gabriel Byrne and Liam Neeson to Colin Farrell. But no mat- ter how busy he is, he will always make the time for Caroline Downey and her worthy causes.
‘We all have busy jobs. But when you get a call like this from Caroline you work around things.
‘When you see the end results like the video for Cherry Wine or the shots we took, you know it was all worth it.
‘ Hopefully i t can help raise awareness and money for a really worthy cause.’