Had Gadya by Vered Terry
The kid is the first link in a chain of victims or predators, in a repetitive psalm , one of the last chants in the Haggadah of Passover. The last link in the chain is the Holy One Blessed be He, God. Even He concludes the chain by butchering the Angel of Death I worked on paper cut to 4 pieces leaving a trace of a Latin cross The kid here is the killer, but already on someone else’s target. He is mainly the victim of our false perception that we protect ourselves or gain anything with weapon.
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Title of work Had Gadya (One Kid in Aramaic)
Size of work ( either cm or inches) 70X50cm
Style (realism, abstract, expressionism etc) figurative
Technique, Medium & material used Mixed, Charcoal and pastel drawing on paper, red marker and found objects (Fabric flowers and frame)
Date work was completed (only submit work of the current year) February 2013
How tragic. What could he have been? What could he have become. A victim while alive made into a hero after death by the myth that plagues humanity. The composition pulls us into the crisis. The fabric flowers and the cross realize the result of the action. The artist has portrayed the kid’s innocence and in so doing has brought a beauty to this work.
The shooter is the target and this is a gigantic crisis and one that our world is faced with daily. The use of the light cross is symbolic of a religion. The framing and the colorful, really playful fluttery edges save the viewer from having to face this head on, which is a good device. By having the frame and the colorful edges we are given a moment of reprieve to contemplate the actual image. It is less harsh and easier for the viewer to digest. In all this is a powerful commentary on our world’s false general perception that violence is a solution to anything. I really appreciate this art work and thanks for your submission.
Provocative as always Vered. I struggle to find the child in the soldier. Interesting juxtaposition of colourful ‘innocent’ framing and the ‘no nonsense’ very adult context of the subject.
Vered Terry I find this a very moving piece of art & your words sum up exactly how I feel about weapons & trying to make Peace by Killing. It has never made sense to me. When my country went into Iraq I saw it as an invastion of another country to get their Oil. We were not defending our country or are people we were simply creating deaths on both sides that were unnecessary & wasteful. I will never understand the glory in killing another being & you show that this boy may kill another but he will also die as he is the target of the other. Very Very Poweful piece of art.
Hugs
Ruth