Alaà al Shawa

Fading Gestures, 2024

Print on paper

32,5 x 40,5 cm

(Originals: Watercolor on paper; 21 x 29 cm)

Edition of 5

450 euro (400 transferred to the artist directly, production invoiced separately)

Alaà al Shawa writes:

‘The atmosphere was foggy and my vision was blurred; staying on that train was the only solution for survival! I heard distant voices, very distant, like someone calling from deep within a well. I was terrified to the point of death, but one voice among the others was clear, and I screamed with a strength I didn’t know was inside me, as if I were screaming for all the frightened souls on earth. I screamed to the point that my throat was about to burst, and my vocal cords were on the verge of breaking! But all of it was in vain; I screamed, but without a voice. My voice was trapped inside my head and throat, unable to be heard by others. I screamed loudly, but I was the only one who could hear the sound …

My thoughts scattered over the souls of people, like fragmented letters on old, faded pieces of paper. They seek an escape from this world, or perhaps from me! They race against the ideas of others, hoping to win over someone’s thought, yet in doing so, they lose me and drift away. I unleashed my childlike and mature thoughts to take over humanity, painting smiles on their lips and driving away sadness. Like a cool breeze in spring, spreading joy along the long roads of sorrow and transforming despair into hope. Don’t confine your thoughts. Let them run free, and you will see their impact reflected on the faces of those around you, and through that you will see yourself.’

Alaà al Shawa

(b. in 2002, Gaza; displaced in Gaza)