The image for this painting came to me after reflecting on the idea of being landless. What would it feel like to be forcefully unanchored? I painted a Palestinian child resting on a fluffy cloud suspended in space where there is no earth beneath him. The child evokes a deep emotional response, underscoring how children, inherently blameless, are often the ones who endure the worst consequences of war. At the same time, the cloud provides a feeling of comfort. It is a safe place, a bed, preventing the child from falling. This alludes to the metaphysical aspect of humanity which somehow, against all odds, always finds a way.
This painting is about perspective. The viewer is invited to look through the targeting grid of a drone to see a Palestinian woman in prayer. Such a perspective collapses distance and implicates the viewer in an act of surveillance and violence. The scene is interrupted, however, by a bird in the crosshairs. Its movement and direction suggest a moment of hope and divine intervention. This raises significant questions: Will the bird obstruct the drone’s view before any violence takes place? And should we place our trust in systems of control or in something beyond them?
Safia Latif is an oil painter based in California. Her work is deeply inspired by Islamic spirituality, theology and metaphysics. Working within the genres of magical realism and surrealism, she creates paintings that blur the boundaries between the seen and unseen. Her art explores themes of transcendence and the nature of reality. She often situates figures within liminal spaces or thresholds that exist between this world and the next, evoking an uncanny sense of both intimacy and mystery.
