George Butler at London Art Week 1 - 8 July 2016
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Refugees at the camp at Idomeni, Greece Pen, Ink and Watercolour 410 x 580mm ‘This is the chaos that surrounds the transit camp at Idomeni a new fence has been built to halt many migrants here. In the back ground informal distributions of food course tensions whilst others collect clothes from piles abandoned on the railway. On this day a man was electrocuted on the lines causing a mob of young men to push towards the border where, as ever, they were met by riot police forcing them back.’
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Afghan refugees on a train, Macedonia Pen, Ink and Watercolour 580 x 410mm ‘Having got their seat on the train these people wait for it to leave for Croatia, tickets are about 25 Euros. The second largest number of migrants after Syria are from Afghanistan.’
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Refugees’ belongings - Bekaa Valley, Lebanon Pen, Ink and Watercolour 410 x 580mm ‘Many refugees had nothing to show, but in some cases we found that few did bring belongs. the things they found in their pockets or cars when they couldn’t go home. The objects they grabbed when the lights went off. In this case the children brought the teddy bears and the mother bought the box from the kitchen she knew the torch was in. Many of the objects were now redundant but were the only things left from their old homes.’
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Afghan Refugees around a fire, Serbia Pen, Ink and Watercolour 580 x 410mm ‘In Presevo, Serbia many migrants, in this case afghans, wait on the platform to catch a train to Croatia. Half way through a journey to an unknown destination and an uncertain future. Propped up only on hope that it is better than what they left behind.’
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Faizabad Market, Afghanistan Pen, Ink and Watercolour 425 x 615mm ‘Day to day life seems to continue at the Faizabad market as any market might. People pour out of the mosque on the other side of the street. One man sells a partridge in a wicker cage, another any bathroom product you could ever imagine. There is also the mobile phone credit man and the fruit seller’s cheeky lad.‘
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Testing the prosthetic limbs, Afghanistan Pen, Ink and Watercolour 420 x 630mm ‘Patients learning to use their prosthetics. Only about 10% of those now treated by the ICRC (Red Cross) project come as a result of war related accidents. The rest are due to conditions including genetic disorders, club foot, cerebral palsy, polio, spinal cord injuries and work and traffic accidents.’
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Aziz, Afghanistan Pen, Ink and Watercolour 345 x 240mm ‘An angry policeman started scolding the group of children that had gathered around me whilst I drew Chahar Su. They were dispersed momentarily before crowding back round laughing at him in the way only children can. After the third time a smile broke out on his face and Aziz, as he then introduced himself as, brought out tea with his officer and then let me draw him.’
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Shopkeeper, Faizabad, Afghanistan Engraving 210 x 240mm ‘This was really an experiment in engraving on the streets on Faizabad in Afghanistan, much to the interest of most of the market’s young lads who gathered round to watch.’
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Myanmar Banana Market, Myanmar Pen, Ink and Watercolour 360 x 260mm ‘I found myself in the banana market in Sittwe because the local authorities would not let me draw in the Rohingya refugee camps. A situation which they would rather the world didn’t know about. The Rohingya are one of the most persecuted ethnicities on earth, to the extent that they are not allowed to be recognised as Rohingya, a name they choose, under Myanmar law.’
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Boy staring ahead - Arakanese refugee, Myanmar Pen, Ink and Watercolour 350 x 500mm ‘One of the young Myanmar refugees now in a new home outside Sittwe.’
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Mumbai Streets, India Pen, Ink and Watercolour 320 x 520mm ‘This is a typical Mumbai street without the usual traffic, some road workers re-layed the pavement and once they realised I had drawn them we spent the rest of the week saying hello to each other. Unfortunately any common language ran out after.’ Drawn for Médecins Sans Frontières.
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Tuberculousis Patient’s Home, Mumbai, India Pen, Ink and Watercolour 380 x 270mm ‘It was rare to be allowed into a patient’s home in Mumbai, the stigma that is attached to tuberculosis is huge in Indian society, and a foreigner’s presence would suggest a weakness to any nosy neighbours. Rhais sat with his mother, Nur, and talked openly about his disease which he had more or less overcome.’
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Hussein, TB Patient Pen, Ink and Watercolour 180 x 230mm ‘As always these people were friendly and interested, in fact Hussein spoke good English and his mother came in each day with food whilst he waited to have a part of his lung removed. Because of the conditions in the hospital and the lack of care – having a strange person to look at and interact with seemed like a welcome distraction.’
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Grand Bazaar, Istanbul,Turkey Pen, Ink and Watercolour 430 x 240mm ‘Istanbul is one those cities that lives up to it’s reputation and the Grand Bazaar is a huge contributor to that. Not only the building itself but the shops and stalls and people that pour out of it down to the Galata Bridge and over the Bosphorus.’
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Bunesti, Romania Pen, Ink and Watercolour 420 x 595mm
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Lhitelo, Nagaland Pen, Ink and Watercolour 450 x 300mm ‘Lithelo is 97, as I understand it he would have village chief had the system not changed in 1977. Before I started drawing he went slowly inside to collect his bamboo cup, saying ‘Nagam’ and putting his hand to his chest to emphasize his proudness. The Naga’s are infamous for their head hunting traditions but actually they are farmers as much as anything else.’
Old Woman with Sunshade, Senegal Pen, Ink and Watercolour 320 x 260mm
Price List
1. Refuges at the camp at Idomeni, Greece
£
1,850
2. Afghan refugess on a train, Macedonia
£
1,550
3. Refugees belongings - Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
£
1,250
4. Afghan refugees around a fire, Serbia
£
1,850
5. Faizabad market, Afghanistan
£
1,850
6. Testing the prosthetic limbs, Afghanistan
£
1,550
7. Aziz, Afghanistan
£
850
8. Shopkeeper, Fhaizabad, Afghanistan
£
450
9. The Banana Market, Myanmar
£
1,850
10. Boy staring ahead, Arakanese refugee, Myanmar
£
550
11. Mumbai Street, India
£
1,550
12. Tuberculosis Patient’s Home, Mumbai, India
£
750
13. Hussein, TB Patient
£
550
14. Grand Bazaar, Instanbul, Tukey
£
1,850
15. Bunesti, Romania
£
1,550
16. Lhitelo, Nagaland
£
750
17. Old Woman with Sunshade, Senegal’
£
650
Illustrationcupboard Gallery
+44 (0)207 976 1727 22 Bury Street, St. James’s, SW1Y 6AL, London, UK www.illustrationcupboard.com Copyright @ 2016 by George Butler All rights reserved Designed by Daphne H.C. Shen