Long Journey
The four images below make up one panel that is 20 x 240 cms wide, made from image transfers onto acrylic paint on board. The writing is from a 2000 page long data log that I was keeping from 2016 - 2017, of reports of atrocities received from the ground in Myanmar as the genocide was unfolding. The images are from photos that appeared in the media at that time as hundreds of thousands of people fled towards the border. The journey took for most took several days and in some cases weeks to arrive to Bangladesh. The final image shows a border guard in No Man's Land preventing the people from crossing the border at the end of their journey.
The Mirror Image of Aung San Suu Kyi
This is an image transfer onto acrylic paint on board, showing the mirror image of the iconic poster of Aung San Suu Kyi by Shepard Fairey, 20 x 34 cms. I would like her to look in the mirror to consider her hypocrisy and unquestioning support of the military that has allowed the genocide of the Rohingya to unfold under her leadership.
Forced to Flee
60 x 20cms image transfer, acrylic paint and watercolour on board. It includes images from the media of Rohingya fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh as well as extracts from the daily log of atrocities that I was keeping at that time.
Smokescreen
This piece is 40 x 30 cms, acrylic on canvas, soft pastels and charcoal. Inspired from an image transfer that I was experimenting with, of Myanmar's police officers overlooking a burning Rohingya village. During the process of washing off the paper, as the image started to seep through of faint outlines symbolising a smokescreen obscuring the facts of the genocide as the atrocities were committed.
Genocide by Fire and Water
The two pieces below are 30x42cms, mixed media, including image transfers, collage, watercolour, gouache, soft pastels and charcoal on card. The writing extracts of reports of arson were symbolically burnt and the reports of drownings I submerged in dirty water, salvaging remnants to piece together the fragments that remained, symbolising the way we try to piece together what happened from verbal reports of survivors.
Genocide by Fire
Genocide by Water
Mother of Inhumanity
This wire sculpture, 30cms tall, depicts a Rohingya mother, holding her unborn child in her abdomen. The abdomen is made of barbed wire. The woman is shrouded in her hijab and she is stood in a plinth of dirty concrete. The sculpture signifies many aspects of the genocide, but left for the viewer to interpret. Some context: Recently the refugee camp of one million survivors in Bangladesh was fenced in with barbed wire stood in concrete blocks and surrounded by watch towers. The Bangladeshi prime minister was hailed by the media when the refugees were allowed into Bangladesh as 'The Mother of Humanity'.
