SILENT SCREEN
The horror, tragedy and futility of war underpin my latest project - Silent Screen.
When conflict unfolds, it is not taking sides that really matters. Rather, it is the painful predicaments of humanity that is so perplexing that I often yearn for the earth to swallow me in order so that I may not witness the tragic cruelty of mankind.
In this modern world, we have become “accustomed” to dehumanizing metaphors that aim to justify mass killings and the burying of horrific human rights violations. Propagation of terms such as collateral damage; precision bombings and targeted killings are intended to screen us from the painful deaths and displacement of millions of people.
The countless innocent victims of corporate adventures and war games are dehumanized as if their lives matters less than our own – nameless victims are stripped of their individual identities; unique narratives and humanity. And all the while on our screens, the blinding images keep repeating themselves. Bodies of victims are strewn in killing fields while thousands march across the plains seeking safety and shelter. I am haunted by the faces of innocent men, women and children whose lives have been cut short by the vulgarity of the so called civilized. Sarin gas victims of Ghouta are no different to children fleeing napalm bombings in Vietnam decades before. Srebrenica is no more no less horrific than the senseless slaughter of civilians in Gaza.
Yet, the cameras roll and scenes of horror continue to unfold as if all of humanity has become part of a global theater of the absurd. Logic, rationality and decency have given way to hatred; racism and violence. Inevitably, all the scenes reach their ultimate conclusion, silence.