Emmalene Blake poses for a portrait in front of her mural showing Samia al-Atrash holding her niece Masa Khader, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in October.
Molly Keane for NPR
Molly Keane for NPR
DUBLIN — This is a story about war, art and the power of social media to bring strangers together.
It begins with a news photo.
In late October, a photo from the Gaza Strip went out on international news wires showing a Palestinian woman kneeling and cradling the dead body of a small child wrapped in a white shroud.
Palestinian Samia al-Atrash holds her niece Masa, who was killed along with her family in an Israeli bombardment in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 21.
Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
Since Oct. 7, she has focused her art on the war in Gaza, including what’s become her most famous mural — inspired by that news photo. In early November, on the outer wall of a pub in Dublin, Blake spray-painted a reimagined scene of the woman, with a Palestinian flag as the child’s death shroud.
Photos of it went viral on social media. So much so that a few days later, she got an Instagram direct message from Gaza.
It was from Samia al-Atrash, the woman in the photo. She’s still alive, in her hometown of Rafah, in southern Gaza — where more than a million internally displaced people from across the territory have sought refuge.
“I was happy so many people had seen the mural, and I got in touch with Emma to tell her, ‘That’s me in the photo,’ ” al-Atrash, 26, tells NPR by phone from Rafah.
A long-distance friendship forms from Gaza to Dublin
Al-Atrash works as a freelance journalist in Gaza, and is currently staying in Rafah with her brother and grandmother — the only relatives she has left.
In that first exchange over Instagram, she told Blake that the child in the photo was her 2-year-old niece Masa. “You painted me and my sweet niece Masa,” al-Atrash recalls telling Blake.
The whole family was killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Rafah on Oct. 21: Masa Khader, her 4-year-old sister Lina, and their parents Loay Khader and Samar al-Atrash. The girls’ mother was Samia’s sister.
Pictured from left: Masa Khader, 2, Samia al-Atrash and Lina Khader, 4.
Samia al-Atrash
Samia al-Atrash
“They’re not numbers. They’re real people, who deserved to live. They had beautiful dreams and a beautiful, safe home,” al-Atrash says. “My nieces would come to my house every week. Masa would wake me up in bed and say, ‘Auntie, wake up! Let’s have breakfast.’ Those are beautiful memories for me.”
These were the happy memories she wanted Blake to know about.
“They were Samia’s world. They were everything that Samia has,” Blake, 36, recalls al-Atrash telling her.
Al-Atrash says she wanted to make sure Blake learned about her 4-year-old niece as well.
“I’d wanted to hold Lina too that day, when the photo was taken,” al-Atrash recalls. “But she was in pieces. So I couldn’t hug her.”
Blake went online and ordered prepaid cellphone service for al-Atrash so that they could keep in touch. They talk daily now. They exchange voice memos over WhatsApp.
“She’s a beautiful person. Our friendship has helped distract me from my pain,” al-Atrash says.
“I can’t even begin to comprehend what she’s going through,” Blake says.
A new mural in Dublin, and a poem
The two women have started fundraising for Gaza together. They’re selling prints of Blake’s mural and donating the proceeds to UNRWA, the United Nations’ Palestinian relief agency.
Their friendship has also inspired Blake to paint a new mural.
Emmalene Blake used a poem that she wrote called “Second Time Painting You” as a guide for the mural.
Molly Keane for NPR
Molly Keane for NPR
“I told Samia that I wanted to paint Masa as she should be remembered, and not as the image that the whole world has seen of her,” she explains.
On Feb. 12, after four days of spray-painting, Blake finished her latest work: a two-story-high painting of a giggling toddler, on a backdrop of pink — one of Masa’s favorite colors. It covers the entire outer cinder block wall of a Dublin tattoo parlor.
A picture of 2-year-old Masa and the finished mural done by Emmalene Blake.
Samia al-Atrash/Emmalene Blake
Samia al-Atrash/Emmalene Blake
It looks like any other laughing little girl. Only if passersby use their phone toscan a QR code that Blake has painted in the corner of the mural will they learn about Masa, a little girl from Gaza.
The QR code also takes you to a poem Blake has written to accompany the artwork.
“It’s called ‘Second Time Painting You,’ and it’s just about all of the things that I didn’t know the first time I painted Masa,” Blake explains. “Because I didn’t see a photograph of her. It was a photograph of her wrapped in cloth.”
A portrait of Emmalene Blake taken near her mural of Masa in Dublin.
Molly Keane for NPR
Molly Keane for NPR
Second Time Painting You
By Emmalene Blake
That cheeky smile. I sketch it now. One finger to your lips.
You look off to the side smiling at someone, something, that makes you feel happy, makes you feel safe.
I sketch your runners, white with a floral pattern. They match your light denim jeans, embroidered with delicate flowers. Your mother took the time to pick them out, match them up.
She carefully brushed your hair, pulled it into colorful bobbins. Put on your baby pink watch, so that you could see all the time you had. Or maybe to just hear the tick-tock of the seconds passing.
Two-year-olds don’t worry about time.
I didn’t know this about you when I painted you before. Didn’t see it. Didn’t see your smile. Didn’t see the feather in your hair. Didn’t see your flowery runners that match your flowery jeans. Didn’t see the baby hairs all along your forehead that you had yet to grow out.
See, when I painted you before, you were wrapped in cloth, your auntie clutching your shrouded body, rocking back and forth.
Whispering words meant only for you.
In the coming weeks, Blake plans a third mural — this time, of Masa with her sister Lina.
“I asked Emma to paint them together, because I wasn’t able to say goodbye to Lina like I said goodbye to Masa,” al-Atrash tells NPR. “I asked her to paint them together, somewhere where everyone can see them.”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.