Ben Rotman

The Refugees from Darfur

"A series of paintings expressing the experience of the African refugees after being driven from their homes in Sudan, experiencing violence, murder and rape, and falling prey to wild animals during their escape.

"And the world kept silent!!!!
Ben Rotman met these exiles and monitored their activity after the horrors, and expressed his impressions in perspective paintings emphasizing their fate and the essence of their lives.

"The prominent figures in these paintings are women, men and children in various situations reflecting sorrow and despair. In one of the characteristic paintings depicting the escape from Sudan, the exiles have their backs to the viewer and, wearing their traditional robes and head coverings, march through the desert to the open horizon, beating their drums. Another painting shows the figure of a young boy crouching in what appears to be a more urban environment, on a stairway, with his head between his hands, his face concealed, with an older person?s hat flung into space.

"The refugees, who are forced to come to terms with their fate, express this through their traditional dress, their lifestyle and their difficulty in assimilating in modern society, while continuing to bear the scars inflicted on them by the horrors they experienced.

"The paintings express tremendous compassion for those who survived the horrors, while rebuking and defying wealthy, well-fed western society."

Ben Rotman's AutoGallery exhibit