Defiance

About

Leytonstone's Stone Space gallery is delighted to host 'Defiance' a striking exhibition of work by 5 Palestinian artists from Gaza in conjunction with Arts Canteen. Opening in April 2012 the exhibition will present work which illustrates the determination of five artists to overcome the environment in which they work while simultaneously being inspired and challenged by it. All five artists are emerging talents in the Middle East. Each artist tells their own story: the conscious choice to use vivid colours, the hopeful form of a pregnant woman or the playful and detailed depiction of symbols such as the cactus - symbolic of endurance — or using the shapes identified with traditional calligraphy but which are never resolved into meaningful text. The artists' power is evident as they transform ugliness and despair into beauty and light as the mundane forms of concrete, satellite dishes, asbestos roofs and washing lines are presented to us.