Beneath the Stars
The first in a series of 10 illustrations which will document some of the extraordinary global events that occurred between 2016 and 2018. The collages are full of symbolism and make connections between the stories of the skies and the events occurring beneath them.
The illustrations are a combination of screenprinting, collage and hand painting, 400 x 160mm.
'When I drew the baobas, I was driven by a sense of urgency'
The Little Prince by Saint Exupery
Some of the baobab trees in Africa are more than 5000 years old and they are suddenly dying; this is
believed to be due to climate change.
Symbols:
The Little Prince represents the human destruction of the baobabs;
The leaves are cut from images of the Kente clothe, a traditional African textile which symbolises that 'my skills are exhausted';
The blue flower is an African symbol of hope;
In Africa, the Southern Cross and the Pleiades are associated with planting and harvesting, the natural cycle of growth.
Other symbols include Roman numerals, symbols for water and a diagram to represent the Copernican revolution, included to give a sense of time and history.
The Age of Aquarius
Between 2016 and 2018, 10,579 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean; most were refugees fleeing
poverty and war. The rescue ship Aquarius was the last remaining charity boat to be operating and has saved hundreds of thousands of people; its license to operate was revoked in September 2018. Vickie Hawkins, head of MSF UK, said in a statement about the Aquarius:
“The end of Aquarius means more lives lost at sea; more avoidable deaths that will go unwitnessed and unrecorded. It really is a case of ’out of sight out of mind’ for UK and European leaders as men, women and children perish,”
Alan Kurdi was three years old when he died in the Mediterranean in 2015. The image of his tiny body, which was found on the shores of Turkey, has come to symbolise the tragedy of the refugee crisis; his image is included here as a way to remember him and all those who have lost their lives in their desperate attempts to reach Europe, they must remain in sight and in mind.