The questions that frame ‘Police’ are informed by art historical iconography, but also by contemporary social and political concerns. The painting explores the historical trajectory of equestrian painting (exemplified in works by artists such as George Stubbs and Jacques-Louis David) that positions horses as icons of power and prestige, but within a 21st century context of depersonalized surveillance and latent violence. ‘Police’ is concerned with the visual spectacle of power and the coercive organization of space and behaviour, and painting’s own historical complicity within these procedures. The work strives to question historical and contemporary expressions of power, and how this visual presentation continues to inform and direct our lives.