Hope Series - Sorrow and Resistance

The Hope series involves three works, all composed in markers, pen, pencils and colored pencils on paper. Each work is large in scale and uses the principle of emphasis in each. This is the second work in the series and is titled: Sorrow and Resistance. Without posters or invitations, without bows and applause, performances take place in unexpected locations, lacking lighting and sound systems. Like millions of other compassionate individuals of modest means, thirty-five-year-old Lebanese cellist Mahdi Sàhêli would likely remain completely unknown to us, also questioning the fate of humanity, had his activism not been shared on social media. The image I have composed shows Mahdi playing his cello amongst the rubble of Beirut. The devastation is presented in graphite while the musician is fully colored, emphasizing the humanity that presses on amongst the devastation.