Turkish painter Kasım Tan depicts the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to raise awareness about the attacks carried out by Israel on the enclave. Tan created a 9-meter by 3-meter (30-foot by 10-foot) painting titled "Gaza" in front of the Üsküdar Valide-i Cedid Mosque in Istanbul to support Palestinians through his work. Inspired by Picasso's "Guernica," Tan expressed concern as a young artist about depicting the horror of the situation.
"I had a concern about expressing the horror I experienced. We prepared our canvas after obtaining permission from the Mufti's Office and the General Directorate of Foundations. Then we placed it here and started drawing," the 27-year-old artist told Anadolu Agency (AA).
After the attacks by Israel on Gaza on Oct. 7, Tan went into seclusion to ponder: "What can I do against this genocide?" When he emerged, he decided to create his piece. The young artist said he mostly creates portraits, but in his Gaza piece, he wanted to depict the striking facial expressions of the Gazan people.
"Here, I aim to transfer to the canvas the unforgettable expressions engraved in our minds from Gaza, using bold lines and confronting the audience eye-to-eye. I've allotted myself 21 days,” he said. "After roughly sketching for the first two weeks, I'll spend the remaining week adding details.
I'll occasionally use red paint. This work is a 21-day drawing action by a young artist at 27. I have no idea where this work will take me.
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