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The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

2016 - Revised 2019
96" x 49” @300 dpi
28114px x 13959px
Electronic painting

After winning the California and South Dakota primary elections for the Democratic nomination and favoured to become the next president of the United States, Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot as he walked through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles on June 5th, 1968 and died twenty-six hours later. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian/Jordanian immigrant, was convicted of Kennedy's murder and is serving a life sentence for the crime. There are no known photographs or film of the actual assassination, however, events thereafter were captured on film. Five other people were wounded, none fatally, by stray bullets during the struggle to wrest the gun from Sirhan Sirhan. Conspiracy theories of a second gunmen, Manchurian Candidate-like manipulation and involvement by the C.I.A. continue.

The image is reconstructed from several hundred film stills and archival photographs from various press agencies covering the primary and the aftermath of the assassination and makes use of crime scene photographs, diagrams and personal testimonies.

The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy is part of a tetralogy of pivotal U.S. assassinations from the 1960's and includes John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X.

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RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Detail - Juan Romero, a busboy at the Ambassador Hotel, and a campaign worker support Senator Kennedy's head.
RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Detail - A distraught Ethel Kennedy and shocked campaign aids try to hold back the crush of journalists and onlookers.
RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Detail - the grim mayhem.
RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Paul Schrade, vice president of the United Auto Workers and a friend of Kennedy, is shot in the head. Schrade believed that while he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, Kennedy was shot by a second gunman.
RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
William Weisel, of ABC News is shot in the abdomen and lies bleeding in the kitchen. Valerie Schulte, wearing a polka-dot dress and using a single crutch, stands close by. She has been confused with a woman wearing a polka-dot dress seen earlier with Sirhan Sirhan.
RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy - detail
Elizabeth Evans, an artist and political activist, is wounded by a ricocheting bullet. Thane Eugene Cesar, the security guard directly behind Kennedy and who is widely believed to have fired the fatal shots, walks away, tie missing.
RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy - detail
Ira Goldstein (seated, hand to head), a 19 year old radio reporter for the Continental News, is shot in the left hip and staggers to a chair. "The first thing I said was, 'How is Senator Kennedy? What happened to him?'. And this woman walked by, and she said to me, 'How dare you talk about my husband that way?', and slapped me across the face. And I said, 'I am sorry, lady, but I was shot too. I'd like to know how the senator was or is'. And she said, 'Oh, I am sorry, honey' and kissed me. This was Ethel Kennedy". Delaware County Times, June 14, 1968
RFK Assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy - detail
Irwin Stroll, a campaign worker, is shot is the leg and carried off for assistance.

The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy 2016

rfk robert kennedy assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
rfk robert kennedy assassination detail
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Juan Romero, a busboy at the Ambassodor Hotel, holds Robert Kennedy while his wife, Ethel cries to the crowd to move back.
detail rfk robert kennedy assassination
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
William Weisel, of ABC News is shot in the abdomen and lies bleeding in the kitchen. Valerie Schulte, not one of the two infamous woman of the polka dot dresses, stands close by.
rfk robert kennedy assassination detail
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Paul Schrade, a friend of Kennedy, is also shot in the head in the crossfire.
rfk robert kennedy assassination detail
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Elizabeth Evans, an artist and political activist, is wounded by a ricocheting bullet.
rfk robert kennedy assassination detail
The Raft of the Medusa (Le Radeau de la Méduse) Théodore Géricault, 1818-1819, Oil on canvas, 491 cm × 716 cm (16' 1" × 23' 6" ), Louvre, Paris.