Kevin Griffin. A 17-year-old high school student is hoping her art work, inspired by Pablo Picasso’s antiwar painting Guernica, will help Canadians see the humanity in the plight of Syrian refugees.
Shazia’Ayn Babul’s pastel drawing uses Picasso’s recognizable cubist forms and borrows some of the figures from his painting, including the powerful image of a grieving woman holding her dying child.
“I felt something needed to be done to bring to the attention of the world the suffering of the people in Syria ... I think it needs that human connection — like what Picasso did for war in Guernica.”
Babul’s drawing is in an exhibition of work by 14 Ismaili Muslim artists at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver. Called Odyssey: Past and Present, the exhibition continues until Tuesday, Dec. 1.
Babul, a Grade 12 student at Sentinel Secondary School in West Vancouver, was introduced to Guernica about a year ago after her father visited Spain and brought back a poster of Picasso’s painting. It now hangs in her bedroom.
Picasso painted Guernica following the 1937 bombing of the Basque town by Nazi Germany fighting on behalf of Nationalists during Spain’s civil war. In less than four hours, about 1,600 people were killed.
Picasso’s painting is considered one of the greatest antiwar works of art ever made.
“It’s on my wall,” said Babul. “It really caught my eye. Just looking at it made me think of war in the Middle East. I was very inspired by it.”
Babul has a personal connection to Syria. Five years ago, she and her family travelled the country. She learned not only of Syria’s rich Islamic history but also its Phoenician, Christian and Roman past, which dates back some 3,500 years.
Babul said she checks in occasionally on Facebook with a Syrian friend to make sure she’s OK.
“We met all these people,” she said. “We think about them every time we hear stories about bombings in Syria.”
Babul calls her work Al Sham. It refers to the historic name of Syria and to the sham version of Islam she believes is being spread by ISIS and other jihadist groups.
On the left of the work is a tank shown coming toward a group of people who are praying. On the right, several figures are shown crying.
“That came from the idea of a news story on refugees who are being turned away from various countries,” she said.
“I thought that people need to know this is what they’re running away from — not what they’re bringing with them.”
Written in Arabic on the work’s surface are the words Peace, Equality and Justice.
“Those are the things that are not being represented at all in the Middle East because of what ISIS is doing,” she said.
“It contrasts with what Islam teaches, which is mercy and peace.”
Babul worked on the drawing for a year, doing preparatory drawings and studying the tradition of Persian miniature paintings. She called art one of her passions and plans to study science in university.
She fully supports the federal government’s decision to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees. But she wonders if Canada could do more.
“There are a lot of people out there who need help and they’re not getting as much help as they could be,” she said.
“Everyone should understand everyone is human and they need help right now.”
Taslim Samji, curator and artist, said her painting in the exhibition shows a multicolored tree of pluralism. It’s meant to represent Canada as a blending of different cultures and colours.
Canada’s diversity is reflected in the diversity in the country’s Muslim community, which includes Ismailis like herself.
“The tree of pluralism is about how we can exist in a pluralistic society, respecting and embracing diversity,” she said.
“We are influenced by our past. When we understand that in the present only then can we make valid decisions for our future.”
An artists’ reception will be held Sunday, Nov. 29 from 2 to 4 p.m.
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