There’s Beauty in War Ruins, This Yemeni Woman Shows Through Art

Rokaia Al Wassi’s art is an expression of the violence and destruction that she sees every day.

Painting made on glass found amidst war ruins in Yemen

(Photo: AP Screengrab)

The ruins of a house hit by an airstrike in Yemen is a sad reminder of the reality of this war – but to artist Rokaia Al Wassi it is also a rich source of material. She sifts through the rubble searching for panes of shattered glass.

With a bag full of the fragile shards, she heads back home to her studio. She feels the transparency of glass lends the people she draws "credibility.”

Al Wassi has long enjoyed her artistic hobby of painting on glass since her childhood. But the conflict has changed her approach.

Glass is transparent and with its transparency you feel the amount of credibility of the subjects that are going to be painted on it. It is beautiful.

Rokaia Al Wassi, artist

Her art is now an expression of the violence and destruction that she sees every day.

She believes her art’s purpose is to heal the wounds and scars of Yemeni people by turning destruction into something beautiful.

I paint to explain the wounds. This glass was not simply fractured, there are families missing warmth, as there are families that need money to rebuild their homes. In the end, the Yemeni people barely get any of their needs. I’m only trying to save their glass by painting meaningful things about them on it.

Rokaia Al Wassi

She calls this project "Drawing a Message of Peace" and using it to paint on her dreams and the suffering of her fellow Yemenis. She believes her art is the proof that the horror of war can still be used to create a message of hope and peace and that there’s always something to look forward to.

(With inputs from AP)

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam

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