09.07.06 kulturnatib

Not all homecomings are happy

One of the most haunting works of art of the 20th century done by one of the most towering artists ever is the Guernica by Pablo Picasso. While incorporating many symbolisms that are associated uniquely with Picasso, this work that depicts the horror of the first experiment of aerial bombardment of a Basque town in northern Spain by the burgeoning Nazi war machine with its Spanish ally Franco, stands as a universal image of humanity's recoil in the face of war.

While some art critics are of the opinion that Picasso's works were beyond political contingencies or ideologies, Picasso remains among the most quoted of the modern artists in calling on the artists to wield their art in the service of humanity.

"What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes . . . How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war."

The above quote by Picasso appears in the exhibit poster of Art Against War, a visual art exhibit at the Cube Gallery in Ottawa.

This exhibit was organized to manifest the artists' solidarity immediately with the victims of the recent Israeli attack on Lebanon that has resulted in numerous deaths of Lebanese civilians and a lesser number of Israeli civilians killed in rocket counterattacks by Hezbollah in that month-long flare up of violence in the Middle East.

More concretely, the exhibit was also a fundraising event for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), the France-based, international humanitarian aid organization who were among the first to rush to assist the victims of the attacks amid difficult conditions including the total blockade imposed by the Israelis and the targeting of clearly marked emergency and aid vehicles.

Though short on exhibit time and space -- the exhibit lasted for only four days in a gallery roughly 20 by 10 meters in size -- it was long in participants and guests. The exhibit attracted upwards of 120 artists and guests of over 1,000 with some 200 who attended the opening and more than a handful even during the last day when the works were being taken down.

I was among the participants. I submitted a sculpture piece. Made of corrugated carton, the sculpture is a facsimile of an oversized suitcase; the maleta favored by OFWs.

Instead of leather, leatherette or some PVC based hard shell material, this maleta was wrapped in newspaper facsimile of the front pages of national dailies whose banner and secondary stories were of the forced evacuations of OFWs from Lebanon - downloaded from the internet and printed on newsprint.

For visual impact, the banners or headlines were given more prominence but with closer inspection, snippets of stories can be read. For maximum impact however, pictures were also afforded prime real estate.

A red faux-silk robe jutted out of one bottom corner of the suitcase hinting at a harrowing and hurried escape.

The work is entitled, "Not All Homecomings Are Happy."

Having been an OFW once, I know that homecomings are a most looked forward to event in an OFWs life. But, I also know from recollections of colleagues who went through the first Gulf War, that forced homecomings are never happy, especially when such homecoming is to be facilitated by a government who, while praising them as heroes, treat them no better than milking cows.

The most recent crisis in Lebanon is, of course, precipitated by a foreign government whose attack is condemnable in the strongest terms, yet, practicing charity that best starts at home, blame should be laid on the steps of our government whose treatment of OFWs are always a crisis in waiting.