To remember we need to forget

"To remember we need to forget"

A brief description of the painting:

"To remember we need to forget" was the title we decided on; to remember the good memories we need to forget the bad ones.

On the bottom left we see a serpent dragon – a symbol of evilness that spits venom and fire. It symbolizes those who cause war; those who kill for no reason but to cause separation and destruction. It's tail's end is attached to a tornado–not the storm, but the people–who cause damage and destruction.

The mask and the faces between the tail of the serpent represent the liars, those bad people who pretend to be good ones.

As to the fire caused by the serpent dragon, it is transformed by the good powers of the angel into light. The angel holding a baby is a sign of rebirth and regeneration.

Next to the angel there is an empty bird cage – a symbol of freedom.

To the top right, we see people hanged.

We also see graves on which is written the dates of birth and death of those who died on that day of the explosions of the 2 mosques.

The graves are surrounded by chains made of heart shapes. The chain lock is open because we hope to release the souls of those who died and leave them rest in peace.

Everywhere in the painting have small icons representing the innocent souls.

At the bottom in the middle of the paining, there is a hat of a magician. This shows that sometimes we wait for a miracle to happen to save us from this destruction. A musical scale comes out from the hat to spread musical notes to the whole painting.

Throughout the painting we keep track of those musical notes, which are followed by letters and postcards, on which is written "with my love and peace" in pencils so that they are not readable nor clear. The idea is to leave it to the viewer to decide what message he wants to send and to whom.

In the middle we have a huge symbolism. A yellow evil character with multiple eyes observing people from all sides. He was responsible for the death of the enshrouded person (the one eyed character in purple). A second character (the green one) takes the purple soul to heaven. Below the killer there is a watch with 4 hands (2 hands shown twice). The watch reflects time – when the time comes every one will be punished and justice will prevail. The repetition of the hands is represented in a symbolized form. One hand is a sword directed towards the killer to stop him and the second hand is composed of colorful tree leaves; after things fall (the yellow and orange leaves), always comes regeneration (green leaves). We should never lose hope.

Those ideas represented in the painting always hold double meaning, which reminds me of what Iman said "we are living in a schizophrenia of peace." Indeed, I see that unconsciously those youth mixed ideas and their opposites in each drawing as if they feel happy and sad at the same time without being able to determine the times when they feel happy and the times when they feel sad.

08.09.2014

Follow-up: reflections of the experience

Our new KGGY project in Tripoli was a fantastic experience for me and for all those who participated. The 3 children showed great enthusiasm and love for painting. Those children were very courageous; they stepped in, took the brushes and asked "where do we start?" I believe that children seem more courageous than youth especially that they tend to think more freely (they think loud without caring about what others will say in return, without even thinking if what they said is right or wrong). Children have a very soft brain–an innocent one, that allow them to act on the spur of the moment. On the other hand, youth are more careful, they think of what they want to say and how they should act. This difference makes children more courageous and if I may say, more honest and powerful, that youth. Their powers lies in their imagination and their innocent brain that thinks freely and without limits. When we grow up we become more mature and start losing our sense of imagination because we always think of what "should" be made, what "should" be said and what "should" be though of. For this, year after year when we should become wiser, our courage to act and think freely diminishes.

Pablo Picasso mentioned this difference between children and older persons in many of his quotes. He said: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when we grow up." Another quote is: "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

Children have a very distinct character. However, the degree of the freedom of thoughts, of courage, of enthusiasm.. changes depending on the culture, the entourage, the character, the family and the society in which children and youth live. To know about the main reason for this "shyness" or "courage" in the children you spoke about, we should look into the case of each of those children. When it comes to expressing oneself's thoughts and ideas, many elements interfere to help or hinder children, youth and even adults.

Valia Mouheich

25.09.2014

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To remember we need to forget