The artist writes:
“This piece was something I wanted to paint following the disappointing news at the start of December that the Government would begin bombing Syria.
Like most people, I’m strongly against this and the whole thing made me extremely sad and frustrated by how blatantly wrong it is, and that no good will come of it on either side. But Christmas and New Year came and went and I still hadn’t got around to painting it. Nothing had changed but the subject just passed into the ongoing mess of other depressing news. I hate to admit it but I just got on with my shit in my own little bubble and kind of just forgot about the whole subject for a bit.
This piece is partly about waking myself up and forcing myself not to ignore the situation. It is a strong and maybe depressing image to display, especially at a time of year when it often feels like love, peace and understanding are pretty difficult aims to achieve in our local lives, let alone in the rest of the World. But I also think it’s good to realise how lucky we are: We aren’t the ones having bombs dropped on us (yet). Our Government is fucking over and killing innocent people, families and children elsewhere in our name, and we need to stay awake to this and not just let it become a blur of bad news which we ignore.
We should all be making a fuss about this in whatever ways we’re able. I’m not under the illusion that street art is going to achieve anything by itself, but it might add a bit of fuel to a protest that needs to keep going.”
SEPR
January 2016