HANDS OF MERCY (Weekly Art Project, #12 2020)

This week's art project is inspired by something sobering & my approach may not be to everyone's taste...you've been warned!!

Ramses the 3rd was a man so intoxicated by power that he decided he should be a Pharoah! (History has had a few leaders that fit that description!!) He'd built an effective Egyptian Navy & had defeated the Phoenicians, so he decided to build himself a temple!  We visited his Medinet Habu Temple near the Valley Of the Kings, and as you can imagine, the walls were lined with references to Ramses's victories.

One image has stayed with me & at this time when we are very conscious of our hands, (where they've been & when did we last wash them) I decided to use it as my inspiration. Sadly, it tells a tragic, sickening story.  

When the Egyptians were conquering the Phoenicians, many of the surviving people went down on their knees & extended their hands to the conquerors begging for mercy.  Did Ramses 3 offer them mercy? No.  Instead he had all those hands chopped off.  The image above shows a scribe counting how many hands are in that one pile.

I know...shudder...sickening.

As an artist I can't imagine life without my hands. We use them as tools and as a means to express ourselves, whether begging for mercy or an extension of compassion.  Today I used this exercise to be grateful for the two hands I have!

After a short period of drawing the various hands from the photo above, I chose 4 hand shapes and cut them out of cardboard to use as templates.  With pencil & eraser I eventually created a mound of hands that I was satisfied with.  During that drawing time, I'd also asked myself HOW I was going to represent the above image, keeping it recognisable, yet making it my own.

I chose to try something very different.

I prepared 8 layers of plain unbleached calico & proceeded to sew in parts of the design on different layers before cutting back.  Here's how it went...

  It may be hard to see, but the hands at the top of the mound are 2 layers of calico, whereas the hands at the bottom are 6 layers thick.  I've also stitched the central begging-for-mercy hands in red thread, with the lowest hands being darker brown & the topmost being lighter brown.

The next step required me stepping out of my comfort zone.

I took my work to my paint table, got the water spray bottle & some paint.  Watch what I did next...

 This is the final result.

This week's art project has been more about process than outcome.

It has been disturbing & confronting & effective.

I'm sure we've all been in a position where we have sought help from someone & their refusal has left us scarred & bereft.  I dare say we've all had times when we've been in the opposite role as well.

In these uncertain & scarey times, please choose compassion towards yourself as well as others.  And please...take care of your hands!!!!