April 2025
There’s a new painting behind the bar of the upper section of the Common Room, a long-term loan courtesy of artist Anna Simmons.
“I have often found inspiration for my paintings from the Guardian newspaper,” she says. “Their photographs of people around the world suffering disasters in earthquakes, tsunamis, and in the war zones of Ukraine and now Gaza are so harrowing, so desperate. Creating a painting from these images is my way of being part of the drama, almost sharing the suffering.
“The first thing I saw in this most recent image and what made me feel I must paint it was not the horrifying destruction of the city, but it was the beautiful, seemingly illuminated, road, leading one’s eye onward to something different. In this road there seemed to be light and hope.”
“Look carefully at the way in which Anna paints her scene,” says James Woodward, Sarum College Principal. “You get a sense of the scale of the devastation in Gaza but also that it is made up of individual and targeted elements of destruction and disfigurement. Her use of colour and the shades of paint show us a little of what it might be like to stay in that place for a little while.
“I ask you to ponder it. We might ask ourselves what we might do for peace. Above all in this place of Christian learning we pray for peace with justice. This challenging and uncomfortable piece of art might open new windows for you if you care to notice and perhaps even respond.”
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This is the second painting on the subject of Gaza that Anna Simmons has lent Sarum College. More here
Sarum College is hosting a creative retreat 6-8 June 2025 with artist Claire Reed. More here
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