It is my pleasure to share this evocative text dedicated to my mural “Prison of Blood,” created on the Oberkampf wall in the heart of Paris in October 2022.
The text was published in the fifth edition of a book released by La Fondation du Le Mur, the organization supporting one of France’s most renowned artistic spaces. This edition brings together dozens of artists from around the world whose contributions have enriched the French art scene through their works on the Oberkampf wall.
I invite you to discover this reading, which I hold in great esteem.
(English Text)
“If an artistic career could be measured by a line in the palm of the hand that a fortune teller might read, Murad Subay would have the same ‘artistic line’ as Jacques Callot, Goya, Twain, and all those who, through a silent and relentless practice, have told the truth of war. Born in a magnificent country but torn apart by permanent conflicts since his birth, this self-taught Yemeni artist sublimates the pain, violence, and despair generated by that inspiring monstrosity called war, through heavy strokes of black in various urban projects, with the aim of raising awareness and reminding us—without words—of the tragedy of those we do not see. Thus, once again, he summons war and death to Oberkampf Street, in the expressive form of a mixed, emaciated couple, set against a background of judicial images, frozen in a silent scream, cut through by the harsh lines of gradients, their empty eye sockets wide open… A harsh art, necessary, yet all the harsher because the artist stands with the victims as much as he stands with us. An art that sends us back to the darkest part of our human condition, and to our abyssal and terrifying powerlessness.”
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(Orginal Text In French)
« Si le parcours artistique se mesurait à une ligne dans la paume de la main que pourrait lire une voyante, Murad Subay aurait la même “ligne artistique” que Jacques Callot, Goya, Twain, et tous ceux qui ont raconté, par une pratique sourde et acharnée, la vérité de la guerre. Né dans un pays magnifique mais déchiré par des conflits permanents depuis sa naissance, ce Yéménite autodidacte sublime la douleur, la violence et le désespoir engendrés par cette inspirante monstruosité qu’est la guerre, à travers de lourds coups de noir dans différents projets urbains, afin de sensibiliser et de rappeler — sans mots — la tragédie de ceux que l’on ne voit pas. Ainsi, une fois encore, il convoque la guerre et la mort rue Oberkampf, sous la forme expressive d’un couple mixte, émacié, sur fond d’images judiciaires, figés dans un cri muet, traversés par les lignes dures des dégradés, leurs orbites vides grandes ouvertes… Un art dur, nécessaire, mais d’autant plus dur que l’artiste se tient du côté des victimes autant que du nôtre. Un art qui nous renvoie à la part la plus sombre de notre condition humaine, et à notre impuissance abyssale et terrifiante. »
Murad Subay 