George Gittoes The Preacher Analysis

The Preacher is a painting by George Gittoes, an artist who is recognized for his travels around the world and for his visits of different scenes of famous mass murders such as Rwanda. Much of his artworks reflects on the many levels of violence he has encountered, from local to even international. Gittoes painted The Preacher in response to the aftereffects of the Rwandan genocide, where massacres were still taking place left and right. This destructive aftermath shows persistent trauma throughout the country. Violence is an unending train that brings disastrous effects regardless how big the passing cargo cars are.
This painting depicts a preacher, as given by the title, who raises his hands in hopes of ending the violence and restoring faith of the Rwandans. The man in the painting also holds a book in his right hand, demonstrating his religious faith and beliefs he still hold truth to. In addition, the preacher’s wrinkled shirt exposes his frail, meatless body, which represents the struggle he has gone through and the lack of accessibility to resources for survival. With the brush …show more content…
After this painting was completed, a major massacre took place in Rwanda in 1995. An end to a genocide doesn’t simply mean an end to violence throughout the nation. There will still be people who want to hurt others and believe solely in their own beliefs and thoughts, as well as dead bodies that are down from gun shots and machete slashes. However, there are still people who want the killings gone and the peace present. Out of the billions of people in the world, only an extremely small percentage of them are causing the harm in Rwanda; the rest are bystanders, victims, or rescuers. This just shows that violence can’t solely be solved by one person and his/her dreams, and that cruelty will continue because of the perpetrators[how is this shown?