People have asked Marc Nelson “why do you draw such ugly parts of life? Isn't art about beauty?”
The American artist's portfolio centres on difficult, often harrowing, subject matter: documenting war crimes and human rights violations occurring in Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Myanmar and the US.
But in response to such questioning, Nelson says, “You don't really know anything about art.”
Throughout his career, his work has sparked unexpected connections. His unique depictions of Syria's civil war in particular led to a friendship with one of his subjects, Mazen Al Hamada, the Syrian activist detained, tortured and recaptured under the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad.
Now, following the ousting of Assad and the tragic discovery of Al Hamada's beaten body, killed in captivity at the notorious Sednaya prison during the regime's final days, Nelson says his mission is all the more important: justice for survivors of war crimes in Syria, and beyond.
“Before, I was screaming in the dark … I think the artwork was screaming and desperate to try to be heard about what was happening. I think that was before the fall of the regime,” Nelson tells The National.
As Syrians pursue justice, Nelson explains: “With my art now, I want to talk to as many survivors as I can. I want to help with illustrating as many testimonies as I can.”
The middle school art teacher, based in the Midwestern state of Illinois, has traditionally used photographs on social media from amateur and professional journalists as “a starting point,” and seeks to “use paint and charcoal to create images that were both static and fluid.”
Each stroke of the paintbrush or charcoal grind comes with a sense of responsibility which Nelson has felt since he was a young boy. During his childhood, he discovered his grandfather's collection of graphic World War One photography. His grandfather came to the US from Belfast, Northern Ireland, during The Troubles.
That catalogue of war photographs transformed him and destroyed the all-too American notion of “war being some fun, heroic GI Joe, oh, let's go out and play swords,” he says.
His focus on Syria came after scrolling through X, then Twitter, in 2016, when an image of a man carrying a little girl in a blanket under siege in Aleppo came up on his feed.
“Her blankie was flapping in the wind, and it was just devastation all around and I was like – what am I looking at? What is this?”
At the time he didn't know exactly why, but he says he “had to” draw the image. Now, he understands the act of drawing the image as a form of processing, and commemorating, his subjects.
“Sometimes I feel like, if I don't draw a certain image, that that photo will haunt me … I have almost felt more traumatised by not doing something.”
The graphic nature of war's unfiltered imagery can lend itself to sensationalism – but there is no such indulgence in Nelson's reimagining of some of humanity's most difficult images. In the muted tones of his work, there is a sorrow that may be easier than the original graphic images for viewers to grapple with.
“I think part of me wanted to kind of meditate, to look and not pass the images by,” Nelson adds. “I didn't want to look and scroll, scroll. I wanted to actually be with that image and, sit with the image … They are human like I am, and I don't want to pass them by.”
Al Hamada was among the subjects that Nelson felt immediately compelled to draw, after watching a documentary where he famously sobbed as he detailed his experience of torture in Assad regime prison.
“Immediately, just like I did with the guy and the girl, I started drawing his face,” recalls the artist.
After sharing his artwork, the US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force eventually connected Nelson with Al Hamada online, where they developed a friendship over social media. That culminated in an emotional first in-person meeting when Al Hamada's speaking tour took him to Illinois.
When Al Hamada returned to Syria, after being lured back under false pretences by Syrian intelligence operatives, Nelson says his need to draw his friend became more intense, fearing the regime would “unperson” him “in the way the Soviets used to do”.
“My first reaction was this desperation to save everything I could and screenshot everything. I just thought, for my own self and for others, I'm just going to start using these images that I saved; draw them every week, and talk about Mazen.”
Of his friend, Nelson describes a deeply vulnerable man committed to justice. “He was basically like an open wound. He was everything within minutes, like you could see all this just flowing. He was also fearless.”
Now, he hopes his artwork captures all of Al Hamada – his gentleness; his introspection; his love of dancing to and “blasting” revolutionary music; his pain that he “wore on his sleeve, his wounds and his strength”.
Nelson explains: “He basically put his body, his mind and his soul on the line to try desperately to show the world what was going on.”
The removal of the former president has sharpened Nelson's mission. Now, his focus using his art for justice, accountability and continuing to remember his “real life hero” Al Hamada. In addition to creating art out of images online, he now wants to help Syria's survivors illustrate their memories of war crimes and violations as victims pursue justice in the international courts.
This month, the University of Michigan featured his works and hosted a panel where Nelson honoured Al Hamada's legacy. “Now, my art is not just like, blah,” he exclaims.
“I feel like it's more directed. As an artist I can at least help visualise and I can listen,” he says. “I'm trying to listen to as many people as I can. I think a lot of some survivors feel like, well, no one's going to care. But that's not true, and I want them to know it's not true.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
ARM%20IPO%20DETAILS
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More on animal trafficking
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
More on animal trafficking
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
The five pillars of Islam
The five pillars of Islam
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
