The Silenced Witness

Description

Artist Notes

This piece of work centres on the killing of journalists in Gaza. It was created following the deliberate attack by Israeli forces on Anas al-Sharif in Gaza, and it conveys the message of bloodshed and the international media's complicity. The depiction of forced silence is striking, while the red colour symbolises the violence and brutality of Israeli colonial settler power. I aimed to create a piece that evokes emotion and carries the memory and weight of an ongoing trauma. The storm takes the form of a sun, representing a living catastrophe that is spreading.

Preservation Notes

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION This is a physical painting on a rigid support: acrylic and real newspaper ashes on canvas board, 41 x 33 cm (landscape; see verification note 1). The record states that on the black and grey side real newspaper ashes create an uneven surface resembling scars, so the ash is an applied, textural component of the paint layer rather than a depicted effect. Construction confirmed from the TIFF master (2026-09-10): the support is a standard commercial canvas board, linen or cotton adhered to a card backing, approximately 3 to 4 mm thick, primed before painting (a thin white gesso or primer line is visible at the bottom edge). Canvas-to-board adhesion appears sound throughout, with no delamination, soft spots, or water damage to the board itself. The composition is a radial burst. A dark central hub occupies roughly a quarter of the picture width, with gestural strokes radiating outward in all directions, reading simultaneously as a shattered lens, a solar flare, and an explosive event. Saturated reds are concentrated in the right and upper right quadrants across three or four major strokes, with secondary reds in the lower right arc and centre right, and weaker mauve and wine tones in the upper and lower left radiants. Lighter grey and white passages at upper left and centre left are thin and translucent. The ash lies OVER the acrylic, applied after the paint or worked into the final surface layer. It is concentrated in the peripheral zones, chiefly the upper left quadrant, the left edge, and a diagonal band running lower left to lower right, thinning across the central burst. Deposits are granular and largely surface-level, roughly 0.5 to 1 mm thick, building to 1.5 to 2 mm in the lower left and lower right peripheries. Impasto in the paint layer runs 2 to 4 mm across the red and black strokes, reaching 4 to 6 mm at the central hub. CONDITION (assessed 2026-09-10 from the full-resolution TIFF master; requires physical confirmation) This work is NOT in stable condition. Unlike others in this collection, it shows evidence of prior handling damage and active material loss. It should be treated as the highest-risk object in Dr. Alijila's collection. ACTIVE DAMAGE, in priority order: 1. UPPER LEFT CORNER. The most damaged area of the work. Shows paint edge-lift, ash loss and thinning, and a small triangular zone of roughly 3 to 5 mm where the canvas board is exposed. Consistent with prior contact damage or handling stress. Requires stabilisation by a conservator before the work is moved again. 2. ASH LOSS AND SHEDDING. Localised loss along the upper left margin and left edge. Loose, poorly adhered particles in the outer lower right quadrant. Thin patches along the central vertical axis where the darkest black converges. The ash is moderately friable overall and only partially bound into the acrylic; no fixative is evident across most of the surface. 3. ABRASION FROM PRIOR CONTACT. Linear abrasion marks run diagonally from the upper centre to the lower right, with fainter directional striations in the upper right quadrant. In these zones the ash is partially displaced or compressed and underlying paint shows through in thin linear traces. The pattern is consistent with contact against a textured material such as coarse packing paper, bubble wrap, or a glazing edge. This is handling damage and it has already cost material. 4. EDGE-LIFT AT THE LEFT MARGIN. Paint and ash overflow onto the board edge in a 2 to 3 mm band and show a slight curling tendency. Risk of progressive separation. 5. Localised scuff marks in the centre right zone, approximately 5 to 8 cm in from the right edge, consistent with contact from a hard object or stacking pressure. STABLE: - The canvas board is substantially flat, with no warping, bowing, or cupping. Only a barely perceptible undulation along the left edge and upper left corner, roughly 1 to 2 mm over the full width, suggesting minor humidity exposure or past stacking pressure. - No prominent cracking or crazing. Fine micro-crazing is visible only in the lower right quadrant, consistent with normal acrylic film stress. - No active flaking of the acrylic layer. - Upper, right, and bottom edges are clean and structurally sound. Lower right corner is sound; upper right and lower left corners show minor ash thinning and shedding only. HANDLING HISTORY: Faint pressure impressions or ghost marks run around the perimeter, roughly 1 to 2 cm inset from all edges, indicating the work was previously framed under glass or acrylic glazing for an extended period. No adhesive residue is present, which suggests spacers were used rather than direct contact mounting. However, the abrasion pattern and the corner damage together indicate the work has at some point been transported or stored without adequate protection. SURFACE FINISH: Predominantly matte, consistent with unvarnished acrylic and loosely bound ash. Localised sheen in the centre right and right-side red passages, either gloss acrylic in those zones or ash-free areas where the paint's inherent sheen shows through. There may be a very light matte fixative in the upper left and lower zones, inferred from slightly reduced friability there, but if present it is minimal and cannot be relied upon. The surface should be treated as unprotected. CONSERVATION REQUIREMENTS IMMEDIATE ACTIONS, before any further movement, framing, or loan: 1. Stabilise the upper left corner. Paint edge-lift and board exposure require consolidation by a conservator. 2. Obtain a conservator's opinion on a stabilising fixative for the ash. This is a genuine judgement call and should not be decided in-house: a fixative would reduce ongoing loss, but it will alter the matte, light-absorbing quality of the ash, which is the expressive point of the material. The decision should be documented either way, with reasons. 3. Consolidate the edge-lift along the left margin. 4. Do not move this work in its current housing. The abrasion pattern shows the existing arrangement has already caused loss. The newspaper ash is a loose, friable, non-consolidated medium. It must be assumed unstable and vulnerable to abrasion, shedding and displacement. Frame under glazing with a spacer or deep rabbet so that nothing at any point contacts the painted or ashed surface; no contact mounts, no face-down stacking, no direct pressure of any kind. The spacer must clear the central impasto, which stands 4 to 6 mm proud of the board, with margin. The work must never be transported face-down and must never be subjected to vibration; move it upright, hand-carried or in a foam-lined case with the face vertical, and with no packing material in contact with the surface. Do not brush, wipe, blow, vacuum or otherwise dust the ashed passages; surface cleaning must be left to a conservator, and no solvents should be applied to the acrylic passages. Because newsprint ash is derived from acidic commercial paper stock, continued chemical deterioration of the ash and any residual paper fragments should be treated as an ongoing risk, and assessment by a paper or modern-materials conservator is recommended. The canvas board support should be kept in stable relative humidity and away from direct sunlight, and handled by its edges or through the frame. Note that possible lint or fibre traces observed in the lower left and centre left may indicate a previous cleaning attempt; if any cleaning has been carried out, it should be documented. UV-filtering glazing is required. The saturated reds, yellows and oranges are the passages most at risk of fading. Note that ash density already diminishes the chromatic saturation of the reds where the two overlap, so any further fading would compound an effect the surface is already subject to. DIGITAL RECORD The original capture was scanned in Sweden as a TIFF master in high, medium, and low resolution variants. The medium and low resolution variants are held outside this archive. CURRENT ASSET: TIFF master, 9960 x 7975 pixels, 227.3 MB. Filename FullSIlencedWitnessAlijila.tif. Uploaded 2026-09-10. This record now holds the full-resolution TIFF master, uploaded without conversion. It replaces the previous derivative (JPEG, 600 x 481 pixels, 86 KB), which was among the smallest assets in the collection and was rejected as unusable for reproduction or study. The master carries approximately 275 times the pixel information of the file it replaces. Effective scan resolution: approximately 615 DPI measured against the recorded physical dimensions, roughly double the 300 DPI archival standard. The reading is consistent across both axes (617 DPI horizontal, 614 DPI vertical), which independently confirms the orientation finding in verification note 1. Maximum reproduction size at 300 DPI: 33.2 x 26.6 inches (84.3 x 67.5 cm), roughly double the physical dimensions of the work on each axis. At 200 DPI, suitable for viewing at distance, it will carry 49.8 x 39.9 inches (126.5 x 101.3 cm). Status: RESOLVED. This record meets and exceeds archival standard. The reproduction blocker previously recorded against this work is cleared. DELIVERY NOTE: At 227.3 MB this is the largest asset in the archive, ahead of Echos of Deception at 209.0 MB and Pyramids of Survival at 202.7 MB. TIFF is not a browser-native format. The master should be treated as the preservation copy only, and any website, catalogue, or print-proofing use should draw derivatives through Sanity's image transformation pipeline rather than serving the master file directly. Note that at this file size the pipeline is slow to produce a derivative on first request and may time out; a medium-resolution derivative held in the gallery field would give staff a file they can open quickly without invoking the master. PRESERVATION SIGNIFICANCE, CRITICAL: This master carries exceptional weight as a surrogate. The ash medium is loose, friable, and irreplaceable; material lost from this surface cannot be restored, and the condition assessment above confirms that loss is already occurring. This scan is the record of the surface as it stood on 10 September 2026 and is the condition baseline against which all future loss must be measured. At 615 DPI individual ash deposits are resolvable at grain level. A follow-up scan is recommended after any conservation intervention, framing change, or transport, so that loss can be quantified by direct comparison rather than estimated.

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