The sentinel men in Magill’s art reflect the artist’s disquieting experience of growing up during the ‘Troubles’, and the depth of the silence that permeated her family’s existence. As her family employed workers on their farm on both sides of the religious divide, the men of her family had to use silence as a protective tool - a simple misinterpretation could cause a suggestion of disloyalty and result in serious consequences. The men in her art stand silent and strong, with a protective presence emanating from them. Magill’s use of charcoal creates a sense of a visual pathetic fallacy, where an inner turmoil reflects the storm in the sky, enhancing the sense of melancholy and solitude in the scene.