Son Watched as Woman Knelt at the Body of Her Husband 1963

Robert Hewett captured this image, "Son Watched as Woman Knelt at the Body of Her Husband," sometime in the 20th century. It's a photograph, so the marks are about light and shadow, and how that creates feeling, you know? The surface here is so important; the rough texture of the ground, the worn fabrics, the bullet-riddled walls – all of it speaks to the harsh realities of the scene. Look at how the light catches the folds in the cloth covering the bodies. It’s almost like a still life, but one filled with loss. That little boy holding onto his mother, his small hand gripping what looks like a newspaper, there's a detail that really gets to me. It's the idea of innocence amidst chaos. Hewett's approach reminds me a little of someone like Leon Golub, actually, who wasn't afraid to confront difficult subjects head-on. The thing about art is, it doesn't give you easy answers. It just holds a space for all the messy questions, and that's a valuable thing.