As the slaughter in Gaza continued I knew I had to create an oil painting in a realism style of those who were suffering in Gaza. I had to create this painting. I cannot stand by and watch this happen and the only thing that I could do was to scream and shout. My screaming and shouting resonates through my art
I crumbled as I walked through Auschwitz concentration camp many years ago, I could barely walk, I was in tears, I could not understand how human beings could commit such crimes against other human beings. The only positive that I could cling to was the belief that this could never happen again…
I started this painting early in 2024 after thousands of children in Gaza had already been murdered by Israel, when I could no longer live through a new genocide with out doing anything. I was screaming with anger inside and I needed to put this emotion on canvas. This is a genocide and despite pressure from many that we must not compare anything to the Nazi holocaust I strongly claim that we can compare the two. A child being starved slowly, painfully and systematically to death in Gaza now is not somehow less than a child being starved in a Warsaw ghetto in 1942.
How can a genocide occur? I think that for a genocide to occur the people committing this crime must neutralise compassion. The media and people in power in Israel have described the people of Gaza as “human animals”. The second thing that must occur is that the victims must be isolated. The countries of the west have clearly told the people of Gaza that they do not count, they are worthless. The countries of the west are actually complicit in the genocide by providing Isreal with the weapons to slaughter the people of Gaza.
We are living in a completely perverse world, those who want to stop the mass murder of children in Gaza by going on to the streets and protesting are apparently taking part in “hate marches” and countries who are trying to put pressure on Israel to stop this genocide such as Yemen are called criminals, terrorists even pirates. We are living in an upside down world.
The title “Mowing The Lawn” is the phrase used by the Politicians of Israel over the years when they feel the need to bomb Gaza, they have been mowing the lawn for years.
I want the artwork to grab the viewer and demand attention as we should never forget this.
