Quiet Morning 2009

Sliman Mansour made this painting, Quiet Morning, in oil on canvas, and it's a world of muted light and constrained energy. There's this push and pull – the soft, diffused background versus the sharp, constricting barbed wire wrapped around the olive tree. The colors are gentle, almost faded, but the texture in her dress! It's a riot of intricate patterns, a celebration of culture against a backdrop of struggle. I find my eye bouncing back and forth between the details of the embroidered cloth and the harshness of the barbed wire. That small table with the coffee pot – a quiet moment amidst the chaos, a simple gesture of resistance. Mansour reminds me a little of Marlene Dumas, how she captures so much with a subdued palette and the direct gaze of her subjects. Both artists, in their own ways, deal with the weight of history and the resilience of the human spirit. The painting feels unresolved, like a question hanging in the air, inviting us to think, and feel, a bit longer.