What remains? Painting

I have been painting photographs from the news, as my horrified response to the bombing of cities in Syria and Iraq. I'm painting because it helps me to make an empathic, rather than a logical or political response. There are enough words and logical arguments and they just seem to lead to more war. its empathy we need. I don't intend to identify good and evil, but I do want my government, the UK, to stop bombing. Its not the right way to try to help. Mostly I have been painting ruined cities. But I came across an unusually empathic story on a BBC website. It featured a photograph of a man with greying hair, a survivor of an airstrike on Raqqa. His face was battered and dirty, but dignified. On closer examination it seemed there were open wounds on his face. Peering at his eyes, I tried to decipher emotion. Fear was, there, and profound defeat. But also dignity, and impotent rage. I had to make a painting of this man, but also of my emotions. In the end, my painting is my interpretation of the image of this real living person. I dont know what he actually felt. But the painting is powerful. Usually when I paint from photos I find on the internet, I consider the images 'in the public realm', so not subject to privacy considerations. But there are copyright considerations. Its my painting, my artwork, but if I make an exact copy of the photo, I do like to inform the photographer. There was no photo credit, so I contacted the journalists via twitter. This is where the story gets really deep. The story says the man in the photo, Obeid, was a lawyer in Raqqa. He remained in the family home when Daesh/IS took over the city. When the US led coalition came to liberate the city, IS set up a mortar in his garden, and came every day at midday to fire a few mortars toward the coalition. One day, the coalition made a huge airstrike on the position, killing several civilians. Obeid was wounded and taken to hospital. There was little help for civilians and he died within 24 hours. However, before Obeid died, IS made a video of him as a victim of coalition bombing. That is how the BBC got to find the photo. So, I painted a painting of a photo of a man wounded in coalition bombing of a town taken over by Deash/IS. He died because he could nt get medical help because infrastructure was destroyed by the war including coalition bombing and IS policy. I have tried to contact the photographer and the victims next of kin. I will continue my efforts. I think this painting and its story are a powerful reminder that our efforts to intervene by bombing are not yielding good results, the results of war are always unpredictable. We must strop creating demons of other humans. Yes, we have gone to far to pull out, now we have created Armageddon. Now we, must set up a peace process, talking to all parties to try to produce peace. So, I want this painting to be seen. But I feel I cant sell it, at least, not yet. I would like to use this image to contribute toward a peace effort in the middle east. So for now, I invite ideas on using the panting for publicity and fund raising - maybe an auction - to set up a dialogue for peace and coexisitence. I live in the UK, and my main effort must be to stop the UK's bombing. Here is the original story Here is a link to the original story. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_city_fit_for_no_one_raqqa_syria_islamic_state_group

Painting:Acrylic on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:13 W x 12 H x 0.3 D in

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