Untitled (Cityscape)
Abdualmalik Abud
2016
size TBD paper; pigment
Held by Erin Thompson in New York City
The work features an inviting skyline of buildings the color of sea and sky, but they are unreachable from the determined- seeming road in the foreground.
Untitled (Sunset with Bridge)
Abdualmalik Abud
2016
size TBD paper; pigment
Held by Erin Thompson in New York City
The bridge in this work bears a resemblance to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, but, as happens with many American icons featured in detainees’ artwork, the landmark is illocatable and contexless. Abdulmalik said he did not have access to television or lms at the time of this work’s creation.
Untitled (Still Life of Glassware)
Ahmed Rabbani
2015
height 9”, width 12” paper; pigment
held by Reprive US in New York City
Upon rst glance, this work appears to be the result of a still life assignment that could have been given in any painting class. But the empty vessels also serve as an oblique reference both to Rabbani’s absent family and to his acts of self-denial and resistanc
Untitled (Binoculars Pointing at the Moon)
Ahmed Rabbani
2016
height 18”, width 20”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Asked by his lawyers to explain his artwork, Rabbani wrote in Arabic on the back of this painting:
Huge Moon. Everyone in meteorology anticipated and followed this event. And I, infatuated, passionately anticipated seeing this strange event where the moon was at its closest point to earth since 70 years ago.
Initially, this appears to be a simple memento of the Super Moon, a much-reported cosmic event in November 2016. However it is difficult to ignore Rabbani’s parallels with the moon: the countless unseen eyes at the end of binoculars seem to represent the authorities who have scrutinized every aspect of Rabbani’s life without, as he claims, understanding it at all.
Vertigo at Guantánamo
Ammar Al-Baluchi
2016
height 9”, width 12”
graphite pencils; watercolors
owned by Alka Pradhan
Al-Baluchi made this work in an effort to explain to his lawyers the vertigo he suffers after he sustained a traumatic brain injury during interrogation.
Untitled (Shipwrecked Boat)
Djamel Ameziane
2016
height 20”, width 25”(frame)
watercolor (original) ; framed inkjet scan
held by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York City, original owned by the artist’s brother in Canada
Ameziane told his lawyers that at his “worst moment” he felt as though he were “a boat out at sea, battered by successive storms during its trip towards an unknown destination….”
This watercolor of a shipwreck with no survivors reflects Ameziane’s anxiety about his future at the time of its creation.
Untitled (Buildings on a Shore)
Djamel Ameziane
2016
height 15.5”, width 19” (frame)
watercolor (original) ; framed inkjet scan
held by CCR, original owned by artist’s brother
Untitled (Blue Mosque)
Ghaleb Al-Bihani
2016
height 18”, width 23.5”
watercolor
held by CCR
After initial years of tight control of media, detainees are now allowed greater latitude in what they can consume. At first there were no televisions, then one, then many, with satellite TV stations, leading detainees to incorporate images from current events into their artwork.
After a 2016 terrorist attack on Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, Al-Bihani created this work as a gestrue of solidarity with the victims there. The lush and idyllic landsape in which Al-Bihani places the Mosque demonstrates the often optimistic way in which detainees combine images from various sources of locales they cannot visit.
Untitled (Two Palms)
Ghaleb Al-Bihani
2016
height 5”, width 3.5”
paper; pigment
held by CCR
Al-Bihani created this small painting with an audience outside of Guantánamo in mind. He knew that his representatives at the Center for Constitutional Rights often distribute materials at public events, so he made an image suitable for printing as a postcard, hoping to contribute to his own advocacy.
Untitled (Houses Reflected in a Bay)
Ghaleb Al-Bihani
2015
height 9”, width 12”
paper; pigment
held by CCR
There are very few human figures in the artwork that has been permitted to leave Guantánamo. Many branches of Islam forbid creating figurative artwork of humans. Although not all of the detainees are especially religious, it is possible that artists chose subject matter knowing the inclusion of people could prevent more fundamentalist detainees from enjoying their work. It is also possible that paintings containing human figures are much more likely to be used as evidence against detainees when facing review for release. Regardless of why, the paintings in this exhibition are largely desolate, leaving the viewer to interpret the faint suggestion of humanity in each scene, including the uninhabited houses seen here.
Untitled (Red and Purple Boat)
Ghaleb Al-Bihani
2015
height 12”, width 9”
paper; oil pastels
held by CCR
Empty boats are a common subject in the detainees’ art. Although empty, these boats are unmoored, as if they are carrying invisible portraits of the artists.
Untitled (Hands Holding Heart with Ribbon)
Ghaleb Al-Bihani
2016
height 25”, frame width 20”
paper; pigment
held by CCR
The rounded, delicate nature of these arms and hands suggest that they belong to a woman. In the detainees’ art, hearts often symbolize members of the artists’ family. Al-Bihani told his laywers that he tried to imagine what his future wife would be like, if he was able to marry after his release. Perhaps this work shows that imagined woman, cradling a heart draped in fabric that is both a decorative ribbon, and a bandage.
Untitled (Large Ship against a Skyline)
Ghaleb Al-Bihani
2015
height 12”, width 18”
paper; pigment
held by CCR
Al-Bihani depicts a bustling city, separated from his viewpoint by mountains and water.
Untitled (Lighthouse)
Ghaleb Al-Bihani
2016
height 17”, width 11.5”
paper; oil pastels
held by CCR
The warning beacon on on this brooding lighthouse has been extinguished.
Untitled (Fins in the Ocean)
Khalid Qasim
2016
height 14”, width 17”
paint
held by Reprive US in New York City
Many works in this exhibition that depict seascapes. This piece shows, perhaps most explicitly, the anxieties and fears lying under the surface of seemingly tranquil waters.
Untitled (Titanic)
Khalid Qasim
2017
height 10”, width 16.5”, depth .5”
cardboard; gravel, sand, rock (collected from the prisoners’ exercise yard) mixed with glue; paint
held by Reprive US in New York City
The Hall of Enlightenment, Guantánamo
Khalid Qasim
2016
height 30”, width 17”, depth 14”
meals ready to eat boxes; paint (coffee grounds mixed wih glue); various found and mixed media
held by Reprive US in New York City
The book’s carefully-lettered inscription reads,
As represented by the stairs, the only way to establishing a strong foundation of knowledge is by one step at a time. As depicted by the clock, time is an essential element therefore every moment must be cherished. One must not wait to acquire knowledge as time has already begun ticking. The flat top indicating the infinity of knowledge—the more you attain, the more you desire.
1:30 AM Fri Sep. 9, 2016, K 242, Guantánamo, Cuba
This text is as a guide for interpreting his work: a meditation on the quest for self actualization by an artist whose most basic future is uncertain.
Untitled (Model Ship)
Moath Al-Alwi
2015
height 26”, width 26”, depth 7”
assemblage ; mixed media; sculpture
held by Beth Jacob, to be gifted to his family at the exhibition’s conclusion.
Untitled (Model Gondola)
Moath Al-Alwi
2016
height 12”, width 8”, depth 4”
assemblage ; mixed media; sculpture
gifted to Beth Jacob
The glass of the lanterns on this work are made from the plastic covers of razors Al-Alwi is given for shaving.
Untitled (Oasis)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 9”, width 12”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Many of the seascapes in this show, when not completely unlocatable, contain vaguely western imagery. This piece may refer to a locale closer to Ansi’s home.
Untitled (Hands Holding Flowers through Bars)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 11”, width 8.5”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Ansi painted a pair of hands clutching the bars of a high window—only later did he add flowers, inserting their stems in the fists. The hands are simultaneously yearning for escape and making a peace offering to the world outside the cage. The work, upon closer inspection, captures the faint pencil marks recording Ansi’s first impulse: he sketched hands whose fingertips barely reach above the window opening, grasping desperately, like those of a man drowning in the middle of the sea.
Untitled (Black Shore)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 11”, width 8.5”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
A coffin-like boat washes up on a shore under black skies.
Untitled (Storm at Sea)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 8”, width 12”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
The materials given to detainees are all soft: pens, pencils, and pallet knives are generally forbidden. Despite these limitations, Ansi achieves a sharply poignant scene with furious brushstrokes where it is difficult to distinguish between the sea and the ship it is devouring.
Untitled (Shore with Two Figures)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 11”, width 8.5”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
This work is unique for a number of reasons: in addition to being a rare exampe of painting created on something other than plain white sketch paper, it contains a rare depiction of human figures.
Untitled (Statue of Liberty)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 8.5”, width 11”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Because the guards at Guantánamo are American, almost all of the detainees have a functional knowledge of American culture. Despite the fact that none of the detainees are permitted to enter America, the Statue of Liberty appears in their works. Here, Ansi paints her in shades of black, presiding over a desert island, with a background that might be the New York City Skyline, but might only be banks of clouds.
Untitled (Crying Eye)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 12”, width 8”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
After the Periodic Review Board initially denied Ansi’s application for release, his works showed the tension between expressing his pain and repressing emotions that the Board would see as a negative in future hearings. Only to his lawyer did Ansi eventually reveal that this crying eye represents his mother.
Untitled (Pier)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 12”, width 18”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Untitled (Hand Holding a Flower)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 17”, width 12”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
There are instances of several detainees painting the same subject multiple times with multiple variations. While some tableaus, such as glassware or grapes, seem to be reasonably standard images provided by an art class instructor, other repeated subjects, such as this hand holding a flower, might speak to detainees taking lessons from each other.
Untitled (Hand Holding Red Flowers)
Muhammad Ansi
2015
height 12”, width 9”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Untitled (Winged Heart)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 12”, width 16”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Untitled (Still Life in Green)
Muhammad Ansi
2015
height 9”, width 12”
paper; oil pastels
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Some of the detainees’ works look like the art exercises produced by students anywhere–but they were made by men shackled to the floor of the art classroom.
Untitled (Sailboats in Yellows)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 9”, width 12”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Untitled (Sunbathers)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 18”, width 12”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
Untitled (Titanic)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 18”, width 24”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
This painting recalls the trauma of interrogation. When Ansi’s interrogators changed their tactics from force to trying to create rapport with him, they used a female interrogator. In her first session, she and Ansi watched the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic—the first movie Ansi had seen. Ansi recalls this viewing with mixed emotions: he was entranced by the film, but recognized the attempted manipulation of being shown sexual scenes while sitting beside a woman.
Untitled (Alan Kurdi)
Muhammad Ansi
2016
height 22”, width 28”
paper; pigment
held by Beth Jacob in New York City
This work is Ansi’s reproduction of a photograph of Alan Kurdi, a refugee child who drowned while fleeing conflict in Syria. The photograph was reproduced endlessly in 2016, but Ansi refocuses the attention on the individual, human tragedies of war. His painting stands as witness: this death is such that it should be mourned even by someone whose own life has been destroyed by war.
