When I opened the door to the salon, the violence and darkness of the art was like a slap in the face. The four walls were filled with thirty nine pieces of the same theme: violence and darkness. However, a closer view showed a small redeeming light in each artifact. At the base of each piece was a small reflection stating simply but powerfully the Gospel message of salvation in forgiveness.
The art is the separate work of two young men, Luis Arturo Rodas Abrego and Josue Castro Ponce. They are sixteen and nineteen years of age. As members of the parish youth group they were invited by the pastor, Fr. David Blanchard, O. Carm. to develop this project for the Year of Mercy.
One recent event captures the insane violence that permeates the world of the two budding artists. There was a lady, Dionisia, known to all in her community as the pupusa lady. For years, she sold her tasty specialty on the principal street of Luis and Josue’s canton.
When she got sick she fell behind in her hand to mouth existence. She had to borrow money at 60% interest from the gangs. Soon her situation spiraled deeper into disarray that exposed her to the horror of the gangs’ merciless demands. She did not meet her payments. She was brutally publically murdered with eleven bullets in her chest and left on the street as a message to the other sellers.
Dionisia was one of 2,002 violent deaths in the first three months of this year of 2016 in El Salvador. To put this in context, this is forty five times the deaths the occurred in the terrorist attack in Belgium this year.
Luis and Josue have grown up in the murder capital of the world. They live in a reality that has the highest level of incarceration in the world. It is not surprising that Luis and Josue, like 75% of all the young men in El Salvador between the ages of 18 and 26 want to leave the country. The two young men have known at least thirty friends and relatives who have been killed in the gang violence.
The marvel then, is not that the artwork is so stark and intense. The true miracle is that ultimately their work is hopeful and portrays a small but definitive openness to a redeeming glow.
I asked them if they were familiar with the Gospels. Their sheepish response was a reluctant, “Not really.” I then asked them where they encountered the message of hope that is planted in each piece. The quick response was, “My experience of life.”
The artwork is permeated with the Gospel message of forgiveness as a way out of the chaos that is their world. Their work does not use the language of the Gospels but it penetrates deeply into the message. There is hope. There is life in the turmoil. There is openness to reconciliation in the saturating violence. There is a manifestation of new possibilities of life in El Salvador that is shared by many people in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.
If you ponder the artwork long enough, you begin to hear the sound of the rock being rolled away. The cresendoing whisper of Alleluia grows into a song of joy and hope. Once again true art captures the ongoing mystery of the human reality where at the deepest level death is giving way to life.
Some images that were presented by the painters Luis and Joshua
http://fundacionparalaeducacionexperiencialpablotesak.org/
