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The Women of the Universe
Gaza, غزة
How does a line hold emotion? How does a square carry pain?
Cubism, at first glance, is deemed rigid and uninviting. It requires a second look, a closer distance, for it to reveal what it holds. The works of Palestinian artist Walid Kaddoura exist in the tension between the rigidity of lines and the fluidity of human emotion. Fully self-taught, Kaddoura came to painting four years ago at 64, proving that an artist can emerge at any point in their life, which is why he is our selection for this issue’s ICON Incubator. Trained as an Industrial Engineer, Kaddoura’s background gives his work its intuitive command of line and geometry.
Like us all, Kaddoura witnessed the Gaza genocide through pixelated screens. While the crisis that unfolded was too much for the heart to bear and the mind to process, the images of Palestinian women holding their loved ones, injured or not, stayed with him. The embrace of a mother becomes a shelter when no shelter is found. A woman becomes a universe of her own. Moved by their strength and tenderness, Walid felt the urge to translate these complex emotions onto canvas.
The Women of the Universe explores the tension between personal intimacy and larger, painful, human experiences.
“What I witnessed in Gaza — women carrying injured men, embracing each other at funerals, holding their daughters — showed me something about human strength that I needed to put on canvas. I wanted to translate women’s bonds, their grief, their tenderness.”
Walid Kaddoura
