Grounded in the artist’s profound commitment to the Kurdish struggle for self-determination, the exhibition is an installation of the artist’s large paintings, which combine a realistic documentation of Kurdish life with an emotional and expressive use of colour. The basis of Dara Aram’s paintings is the Kurdish people’s intense and passionate relationship to the land. His observations of a way of life and its current crisis have led him to a unique vision which encompasses both an urgent cry against repression and an optimistic, humanitarian hope for a better future. The paintings depict, on the one hand, traditional Kurdish legends and epics which have sustained the Kurds through the years, and incidents from recent atrocities they have suffered. Dara Aram’s technique reflects a similar unity of concerns, balancing figurative representations of Kurdish heroes, martyrs and ordinary people, with an innovative abstract technique. This technique mixes colours to create impressive backgrounds, which have been compared to painted music. The paintings themselves are presented as installations with three-dimensional elements such as barbed wire, soil, flowers, and army boots. These symbols point to the reality facing the Kurdish people.