PEACE // LIBERATION Poppies

Free Downloadable Poster For Protest

I made a new piece today, PEACE // LIBERATION. This is a A3 (11×17″) poster for download if anyone would like to use it in protest of the U.S. funding the Israeli genocide of Palestinians or as an image of hope for Ukraine as Putin shells cities at the highest rate this year, taking advantage of global chaos. May we be wise enough to recognize that civilians; Palestinian, Israeli, Russian, American, or any other, are not embodiments of their government’s actions and that all innocent should be protected from horrific violence guising as necessity to a nation-state.

The poppy is a common motif in the folk art of Palestine and Ukraine. As a Hungarian descendent, poppies are an important motif in my ancestry as well. Their images line plates, chairs, walls, books, and clothes. We look on them in remembrance of those lost and to wish for a peaceful future. Drawing them now is a testament that we are all interconnected. If some are oppressed, then all are oppressed.

Excerpt of The Karaniya Metta Sutta:
The Buddha’s Words on Loving-Kindness

//
May all beings be at peace.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born —
May all beings be at peace.
//

//
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
//

translated from the Pali by The Amaravati Sangha

Designing the Poster

Here’s a quick video of designing the poster from the ink drawing scanned into Photoshop. I originally inked the piece on a recycled watercolor paper which gives a nice texture to the lines. This is the first piece I’ve colored digitally in a while. The process of creating art is healing.