This is a drawing I’ve been working on for maybe 2 years now. At first I tried Lino and then I went through countless versions of the sketch both because it was really hard to find what felt right to draw, but also because it was emotionally difficult to draw about. I am finding sitting and writing this difficult in itself. Honestly, I’m not too certain what it is I want to write about, because there’s barely words that would fully describe how I feel.
That said:
Growing up as part of gen Z in a country that can only be described as a colony(despite its independence) , we lived a lucky 20 something years of peace where we experienced our small bubble of the world without genocide. It took going into adulthood to realise that genocide was still happening just elsewhere. To fully realise that our parents and grandparents faced displacement and death and violence in their lifetime.
Now that things are slowly expanding to what might feel like World War III, the consolation I’ve found as a person in their twenties through these times is reading about and learning from activists from the past. Who put humanity at the forefront of their liberation movement. People like Angela Davis, Maya Angelou and Marjane Satrapi come to mind. These people have helped me realise that humanity as well as community are at the center of resistance.
I didn’t want to write a load of information as this is the first time I’m publicly speaking about this online, and I do feel like there is an overload of information to digest already. I wanted to write from a simple point of view, and to ask you what does community look like to you? What does resistance look like to you? Why not try to find out?
I grieve with Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Congo, Sudan, Ukraine and every single regular person who is going through what can only be described as a horror. I genuinely don’t believe that the power of the 1% should dictate what we fight for/ believe in.
Lastly: I will be selling this print in the near future, as an the effort to collect some funds to donate to charity, keep an eye out if it interests you.
