Gujarnica
On
April 28th 1937 a report and a gruesome picture appeared as a leading
story in the French news paper L 'humanite' from Paris. It was about the
outrageous bombing of the Basque village Guernica by the Nazi bombers.
On April 26th 1937 the holy Basque town was totally destroyed in just
three and quarter hours by General Franco's Falangist forces, Italian
and German troops with the support of the Lufthwafe - the German air force.
It reined more than three thousand incendiary bombs and thousand ponders
from their Junkers and Heinkels. The German fighter planes dived low to
machine gun the fleeing populace. The town was of no military importance;
its destruction was an act of pure terrorism. Thousands perished in the
brutal act by the fascist force. 30th April Ce Soir carried on other story
with more pictures. The next day Picasso began the preliminary sketches
for one of his paintings that was to become one of the most discussed
and reproduced twentieth century work of art. The massive painting measured
over twenty five feet by eleven feet and called Guernica after the name
of the town that was to acquire a lot of political significance. The painting
was to become the virtual symbol of artistic protest against atrocities.
When I first saw Guernica, that magnificent work of art, I never in my dream thought one day I have to create some thing in protest against an atrocity much more in magnitude than this that will happen in my own mother land.
That fateful day it all started the Sabharmati Express was set on fire at the Ghodhra station. The fire that ignited the communal hatred spread to the rest of the land of the Mahatma - Gujarath. The Gujarath carnage has shattered many innocent lives. Many parents became insane witnessing their own kith and kin being burned alive. At the end thousands became refugees in their own independent land and humanity covered its face in shame.
It created a
wound somewhere within me, in my inner creative space, it would not heal.
As a creative person I am a peace loving being. The basis of my creativity
is tranquillity and peace. It shattered that morning when I first read
the reports. I felt probably the same outrage and shame that Picasso must
have felt hearing the Guernica massacre. The initial numbness wore off
and a turbulence took place instead. Then it was frantic creative search
and my emotions controlled I got to work to create something, to react
in my own creative way to this.
I painted a small canvas in the courtyard of a shopping complex in front
of hundreds of people. It depicted a few kites torn and aimless in the
barren sky. Like those aimless human beings going about asking what mistake
they did to deserve this. But this wasn't enough. During a conversation
with a friend of mine, the famous Sarod Maestro, Pandit Rajeev Taranath,
he asked me if I am familiar with Picasso's Guernica. Yes, indeed I am.
"Then why don't you attempt something in that direction?" he
suggested. I began to think about it. It rather frightened me. Attempting
something in the way Picasso, the greatest master of twentieth century
saw is next to impossible. Even as a homage to the great artist it would
be difficult. But the artist in me persisted.
I decided to
paint in three sections of five feet by six feet making it a fifteen by
six canvas. It is not tri-pitch but kind of a triology that has to be
viewed together. Having decided on the size I began to make idea sketches
and began sourcing images from several points of history. While I went
to Picassos work for inspiration I am well aware of making a historical
continuity with my work. Like Picasso did. He sourced inspiration and
ideas from several European painters works. A major source for this work
was Peter Paul Ruben's "The horror of war". While he has adapted
ideas from Raphael and Goya he got his pictorial elements from contemporary
photographs from news papers and periodicals that was testimonial to many
conflict in history that he used as basis for his sketches.
The realistic images in my work was sourced from several human conflicts
that readily span our tragic history. My images came from Biafra, Vietnam
and other such incidents.
Yusuf Arakal
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