Express News Service

KOCHI:  Salvador Dali blended the worlds of reality and dreams in most of his artworks. The Spanish legend and his surreal paintings have awed and inspired countless art enthusiasts worldwide, and artist C B Shibu is one among them.

Piqued by Dali’s artworks, which nudge one to explore the subconscious mind, Shibu recently made an oil painting titled ‘Dream’. And that frame has now bagged the second prize at the ongoing Biennale Internazionale dell’ Umorismo nell’ Arte (Festival of Humour in Art) in Italy.

The 32nd edition of the fest, organised by the municipality of Tolentino, showcases 2,400 works by 745 artists from 40 countries. Shibu shared the second spot with Italian artist Sergio Tessarolo. “This was my maiden attempt at this Italian biennale. I wanted the work to be out-of-the-box, surreal,” says Shibu, who hails from Cherai. 

“I have been researching the works of Salvador Dali. His dream-like images have nuanced layers, and that inspired me to come up with the painting ‘Dream’.” The work features a vast sea with crimson shimmers of the setting sun. By the shore, two children gaze towards the horizon. Though the description seems like any other sunset painting, on close observation, one notices the sun is ‘setting’ in the middle of the sea.

“The painting can be interpreted in several ways,” explains Shibu. “When we dream, our subconscious mind form multiple random images. Some don’t sync with the real world. Moreover, there was a time when ancient Indians talked about the various suns. The imagery in the ‘Dream’ could well be something set in a parallel universe.” 

Though buoyed by the biennale delight, Shibu says financial constraints would not let him travel to Italy. “Artists will have to bear their entire expense. It’s a great opportunity, but I don’t have the wherewithal,” he adds. The 44-year-old has been pursuing art for over two decades now. His big break was receiving the third position in the Aydin Dogan International Cartoon competition held in Turkey in 2007. 

Last year, his work, titled ‘The Tree’, received a silver medal in the International Cartoon and Illustration Exhibition conducted by the Chinese government.

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Quill Christie-Peters said she hoped the Turtle Island Indigenous Artists for Palestine art raffle fundraiser she organized would raise $20,000, and in the first hour $15,000 was raised.

Christie-Peters is an Anishinaabe artist from Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation on Lake Superior and one of many Indigenous artists and activists supporting Palestinians.

“I put the call out for only 24 hours for Indigenous artists to donate their work and got over 100 people wanting to do so,” she said.

In total, Turtle Island Indigenous Artists for Palestine raised $60,000 to put toward aid for people in Gaza.

Of the money, $25,000 is going to Glia International, a medical equipment company that is 3D printing medical supplies for Gaza, $2,500 to the Palestinian Youth Movement in Canada and funds were donated to community-led aid efforts, Christie-Peters said.

“It’s important to witness and carry those realities in our hearts and funnel them so that we can take action and have the courage,” Christie-Peters said.

She said support for Israel shown by Canada and the United States is demonstrative of “how much our struggles are intertwined.”

“We made a difference and also made a really bold statement, too…’This is how much we care,'” said Christie-Peters.

“You know, our people often don’t come from the richest of people, but we are generous.”

A ‘misconstrual of history’

Chris Sankey, a former elected band councillor and businessman from Lax Kw’alaams Band in British Columbia, recently wrote he doesn’t think it’s “our place to project our own politics onto a conflict half a world away.”

In a column for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a national public policy think tank, Sankey wrote that calls to action by Indigenous people in support of Palestinians brought “shame to their respective communities and embarrassed all Indigenous Canadians” by undermining the progress made toward reconciliation.  

He wrote that any comparison between Indigenous people in Canada and Palestinians is a “misconstrual of history.”

Inspired by Palestinian artist

Autumn Smith, an Anishnaabe artist, said she read about the death of artist Heba Zagout and two of her children in an Israeli air strike on Gaza on Oct. 13. Zagout’s husband and two other children survived.

Smith, from Magnetawan First Nation just south of Sudbury, Ont., said Zagout’s art resonated with her, half a world away. 

Although she was not part of the Turtle Island Indigenous Artists for Palestine fundraiser, Smith said she wanted to express her support for Palestinians and was inspired by Zagout’s artwork.

“I recognized that love for the land she came from and for her people, and I felt really sad,” Smith said.

Zagout was known for her vibrant acrylic paintings of Palestinian villages and towns.

“All people deserve to be free,” Smith said.