The Entombment of Christ in Aleppo

Description

“The Entombment of Christ in Aleppo” – 2021
Edition of 12 of each size. Each is signed and numbered on the front, sometimes also on the verso. Printed by Jan Oberg on Hahnemühle or Canson fine-art inkjet papers. Normally, available in four sizes. The buyer receives a signed Certificate of Authenticity with the print.

A rather complex work based on Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s famous “Entombment of Christ” from 1603-1604 – more about it here – and on two of my photos from Aleppo, Syria, taken at its liberation from the terrorist occupation in December 2016. The one at the bottom depicts the utter destruction in Eastern Aleppo; the top image the view from the 22nd floor of my hotel in the Western part overlooking the West and East while the terrorists launch their last rockets before fleeing to Idlib the next day.

Processing and fitting Caravaggio’s masterpiece into this context required a lot of trial-and-error. I wanted Nicodemus’ feet to “stand” on the building and Christ’s lifeless hand to fit the trucks orange curve and made the white cloth fall down over the lower image while also transferring the little plant in the lower-left corner from the original. The seemingly seamless integration of the three was central to my concept and idea and, thus, maintain a sense of renaissance painting.

Cleopas’s wife, Mary, stretches her hands into the dark blue night in a manner that looks like she’s horrified by the incoming grenade mortars.

I made this collage – as indicated by its title on the plaque – to say that the Western Christian world was the main instigator, or mastermind, of the destruction of Syria. In reality and as I have documented in my writings as a peace and conflict researcher, it was predominantly about regime-change and I believe it is fair to say that the West together with the terrorist groups it has supported are the main criminals in this drama – the costs of which hardly anyone who hasn’t seen it her/himself will hardly ever understand.

In summary: Christianity buried itself in Syria. And that must never be forgotten either when we look at the tremendous price innocent people have paid in this conflict.