More whisperings of hope: an art exhibition of refugees and friends

Catholic New Times, May 4, 2003 by Keith R. Maddock

More "Whisperings of Hope," an art exhibition that recently showed at the Religious Society of Friends meeting house in Toronto, was one of several annual exhibitions sponsored by the Quaker Refugee Committee. Last year's show, called "Whisperings of H0pe," was a sign of how refugees have been adapting to their new home in Canada. Artists carne from such countries as El Salvador, Nicaragua and Colombia, as well as Albania and Afghanistan. This year a number of them returned.

Martha Mona (Columbia) paints in a realist style, reflecting memories of childhood in a lush tropical climate. Alfredo Fuentes (Chile) returns with moody landscapes, while adding a variety of brighter elements to his style. Krystyna Cseh (Poland) creates colour fields of remarkable depth and texture. Arnulfo Flores (Nicaragua) and his son Roberto both have lively palettes depicting rural and domestic scenes. While Roberto's work is impressionist in style, Arnulfo has transplanted the naive spontaneity of traditional Central American art to the Toronto landscape. His Falling Leaves (Caida de las hojas), in particular, is a delightful vista of children swept up by the autumn wind, with the Toronto skyline on the horizon.

Refugees from Europe and the Middle East may be newer to Toronto than the Central Americans who once found sanctuary in the home of a local Quaker, Nancy Pocock (Mama Nancy). Since the refugee office, staffed by full-time immigration worker Eusebio Garcia, moved into the Meeting House at 60 Lowther Avenue, it has helped a diverse stream of new immigrants, including many from Africa, the Far East, the Balkans and Central Asia.

Returning from last year's show was Krystaq Turtulli (Albania)--his symbolic hand crushing bullets between thumb and forefinger--and three Afghani artists Bakhtaryani Hamayon, Naim Hanifi, and Kamran Ahmadi. Hamayoni's precise realism suggests a romanticized Islamic world. However, this year he added a more intimate portrait of an elderly woman wrapped in a brown shawl and another woman weeping at a grave--risking her life to grieve as the Taliban had forbidden women to enter graveyards for any reason. Hanifi's art mores from exquisite Mogul-style miniatures to loons gliding on a Canadian lake, while his brother Kamran Ahmadi has embraced Canada with seasonal landscapes that emulate the Group of Seven.

New this year, with images still evoking the trauma of conflict, were Afsaneh Shafai (Iran), Maria Pilar Leynes (Philippines) and Oscar Armanvando Laguan (El Salvador). Laguan's Where to Go, an acrylic on wood depicting people on a dangerous precipice, contemplating the dawn, may be a thematic statement of the show--the uncertainties of a new life, often experienced as mere whisperings of hope.

A number of local artists associated with the Quaker Meeting, including the organizer of the show Helen Melbourne, accompanied the refugee artist in this endeavour. Helen explained that "we area group of artists from many places and experiences, exploring our common ground to reach beyond barriers of language and culture." They plan to continue exhibiting their work as a collective when more resources and opportunities become available.

Keith Maddoch is a Toronto freelance writer.