HOPE & OPPRESSION
Fear drives you on
Hope takes you home
Nakba Triptych
Nakba
60x80cm, acrylics on canvas, 2022
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, 2022
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, 2022
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.
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’.
Uhuru
47x67cm, acrylics on canvas
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’.
Surveillance
Pegasus
100x100cm, acrylics on canvas, 2021
This painting presents oppression in the form of surveillance. Inspired by Pegasus spyware scandal reported by the Guardian and Forbidden Stories. Pegasus is the hacking software that can quietly infect one’s phone and then access all parts of the phone such as its camera, voice recording, GPS, messages and thus turn it into a 24-hour surveillance device feeding the information back to the attacker.
Developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, it has been sold to governments around the world on the basis of security and anti-terrorism but there is proof that it has been used to track journalists, political opponents, human rights defenders, business people and even heads of state. In rare cases journalists have been killed after having been selected as targets.
Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International said: “(…) the abuse is widespread, placing journalists’ lives, those of their families and associates in danger, undermining freedom of the press and shutting down critical media. It is about controlling public narrative, resisting scrutiny, suppressing any dissenting voice.”
Watchers
80x80cm, acrylics on canvas
Covert surveillance was a way of life in Czechoslovakia and other USSR countries. Not just from the government but from neighbours, colleagues and even friends. Living a life of constant awareness of being watched but never seeing the watchers. It's not just in other countries, it's here too.
London has the most number of surveillance cameras per capita than any country in the world. But the real oppression comes with not knowing who is watching. It's the sense of constant surveillance that invades your psyche and prevents peace of mind. A silent courtyard in a block of flats holds the threat of many watchers–all the time. Windows have Eyes and Ears.
Underworld
40x40cm, acrylics on canvas
But where there is oppression there is resistance. It generates defiance like power generates energy. In extreme oppression the resistance has to go underground–visible when tactics dictate. There is also a psychological underworld of resistance where you defy the oppressor and the watchers by refusing to live in fear, refusing to be cowed mentally. That is the place to find and go to when fear beckons. It shines here to show you the way.
Migration
Held
30x60cm, acrylics on canvas
at last the border
at last the warm welcome
stripped and held
exhausted
too weak to struggle
all that is left is prayer
Poems by DOD
Barred
50x70cm, acrylics on canvas
the flight from horror ended here
they did not think of prison
in their dreamland
their hope of safety
was not of this
to watch the trees through bars
not theirs but ours
DOD
Uproot
50x40cm, acrylics on canvas
DOD
At the Border
50x40cm, acrylics on canvas
they gather round to see the child
it's parents escaped to save it
it died in a camp of misplaced hope
they gather round to wail
the world turns away, it is too painful to
watch
their pain
DOD
Denuded, Displaced, Destroyed
46x57cm, acrylics on canvas
we all play our part
some play it well, others with
half a heart
the result is devastating
dignity dies when stripped away
DOD
The Offering
40x50cm, acrylics on canvas
refugees bring their hope
their heart and soul to us
we must return it unbroken
and thank them
DOD
Strange Fruit
43x53cm, acrylics on canvas
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Written by Abel Meeropol
Performed by Billie Holiday
Winds of Change
40x60cm, acrylics on canvas
in the end they have to walk
it's all the can do
just walk and walk
driven to suffering by the threat of more
it's a bad choice
for anyone
DOD
Giant Steps
58x68cm, acrylics on canvas
walking holding striding shuffling
travelling to hope
shuffling to life
they move because stasis destroys
DOD
Hard Rain, Soft Light
40x50cm, acrylics on canvas, 2022
In Too Deep
20x30cm, acrylics on canvas
Land of Plenty
30x30cm, acrylics on canvas
Peace
30x30cm, acrylics on canvas, 2022
