Lucia Babjakova
From the Gallery to the Street
A Perspective on Art as Protest
Exhibition at Colonnade House, Worthing
3-8December 2024
Visual art has been used as a form of protest for centuries in different ways. Art and activism have a common aim of exposing the truth and art can unite across the linguistic and cultural barriers that often divide.
Art as protest is based on the belief that civil dissent is one of the most critical rights in a democracy; when the ballot boxes fail us, all that is left is street protest. Dissenting creative art, as well as street protest, are activities authoritarian governments will try to crush, which is a testament to the power of both.
Protest art typically uses print, photos or street art. Paintings, which are not usually seen as having a role in street protest, can make potent statements in public dissent that can engage people beyond the emotional limitations of outrage and anger and trigger a complex mix of emotions and self-reflection.
Lucia is focusing on specific social/political issues to connect universal themes by portraying timeless elements of humanity: love, compassion, resilience, courage and hope (e.g. the mother figure in all three paintings resonates with oppression against Palestinians and Muslims but could also be a woman of a different faith).
This installation highlights specific abuses of human rights, cruelty and oppression, and shows how it can be transferred to a street protest context and exert its emotional impact in a public environment.
The tale of two paintings and their journey to the street
Two paintings from the Hope and Oppression triptych expressing the horror of genocide and displacement are being used as part of mass demonstrations against the slaughter and destruction in Palestine, and for climate justice, which are intrinsically linked.
Madonna
60x80cm, acrylics on canvas, 2021
In 1948 an estimated 750000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes and lands as a result of Israeli action. This is called Nakba in Arabic meaning ‘the disaster’ or ‘the catastrophe’. This oppression of Palestinians included the uprooting of their ancient olive trees that supported many families for centuries and it is still going on today.
The painting presents this cataclysm as a universal trope of suffering, displacement and stoicism in the face of tyranny and cruelty.
The universality of the mother and child imagery represent the overarching link between faiths, suffering and survival–this can be the Madonna, a displaced Palestinian or Jew and any woman protecting her child from tyranny.
This painting was informed by Dr. Gabor Mate discussing Trauma and Israel. As an immigrant I relate to the themes of displacement and oppression and I hope this painting highlights the need for tolerance and respect for differences, no matter what culture or religion.
Havoc
50x100cm, acrylics on canvas, 2021
Havoc has a multi-layered meaning that encompasses chaos and confusion, even anarchy, as well as historically being a military command enabling soldiers to take the spoils of war and unleash total destruction. It essentially was permission to ignore any morality and to act with no rules; the command for the ultimate breakdown of moral order and the unleashing of evil.
The quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar refers to the Dogs of War, which is a metaphor for soldiers as agents of conflict without boundaries or concern for the suffering of innocents.
This painting was originally inspired by the bombing of Gaza but is meant to present a universal image where destruction and disintegration of values comes before humanity. It also reminds us that humanity and love is above any conflict, regardless of loyalties.
Hope
100x50cm, acrylics on canvas, 2021
The last painting of the triptych was inspired by the dangerous journey thousands of refugees take. The dreadful conditions they must endure, displacement, persecution and racism are endured because of one thing – a hope for a better future. Fear drives them out and hope urges them on. Hope for themselves and their children. I want this painting to be a reminder that there is always a reason behind people’s desperate actions. No matter what race or culture, we all must hope. People would never risk their children’s lives for a petty reward; they only consider this ordeal of migration because there is no choice, no going back, no hope from where they came.
Sea
60x50cm, tempera on paper board,
From the river to the sea ...
Indestructible
26x26cm, acrylics on canvas board, 2022
The killing of people by peoples, waving proud flags drenched in blood–when it all pauses a couple sit in a field somewhere around a flower and talk of hope and future. Nations fight nations always, couples seek love all ways.
Opus Dei
50x60cm, acrylics on canvas, 2022
This painting is inspired by the discovery of the unmarked graves of hundreds of First Nation children that were forced to attend residential institutions in Canada called ‘Indian Residential Schools’.
Originally set up under British dominion, the British colonial policy also funded the early missionary work that eventually became religious institutions that ran the boarding schools. The conditions in these schools were appalling and the children were often beaten and verbally and sexually abused. Many died from disease, neglect and suicide.
The main aim was to strip away their language, culture and identity.
In 2015, the truth and reconciliation commission determined that the residential systems had amounted to a ‘cultural genocide’.
Queer Art
Love One Another
Love One Another is a diptych that tackles issues and specific instances of extreme violence against LGBTQ+ people, and particularly gay women. The broader issue of brutality against LGBTQ+ communities is seen through the lens of two examples of horrific violence against lesbians in Argentina and Brazil causing life changing injuries and death. The paintings envisage the hope that hatred can be changed by love and that hate causes more hate and poisons the soul. In the end, all it takes for hatred to lose is the acceptance that we are all different and all equal and that kindness conquers.
Love Never Fails
50x100cm, acrylics on canvas, 2024
Love Never Fails is the first work of a triptych entitled 'Love One Another'.
On 6th May in Buenos Aires three gay women were murdered in an arson attack on their room in a hostel. A fourth suffered 90% burns.
The suspect, a man who lived in the hostel, forced them back into the flames when they tried to escape.
Human rights organisations have accused Javier Milei's far-right government of promoting hatred and contributing to high levels of violence to LGBTQ+ communities.
Tenderhearted
61x92cm, acrylics on canvas,2024
Tenderhearted is the second work of a triptych entitled 'Love One Another' about violence to gay women and LGBTQ+ people around the world. It is about the attack on Carol Campelo, a 21 yr old openly gay lesbian, murdered in Brazil on 10th December 2023. She was tortured and mutilated before her death. Brazil has the highest rate of recorded attacks on LGBTQ+ in the world. The painting questions the contradictions inherent in a Christian society and the disparity between the teachings of the bible and the brutal reality of being different. Carol was killed from hate but the painting suggests that more hate does not solve anything and that tenderhearted acceptance of all differences is the true antidote to irrational hatred. All Different, All Equal.
More information at: https://action.allout.org/en/m/c5441954/
More information at: https://action.allout.org/en/m/321bd6b4/