Have You Got Your Head in the Clouds or the Sand?

Have You Got Your Head in the Clouds or the Sand?
“Have You Got Your Head in the Clouds or the Sand” emerged from my confrontation with the realities of war as a contemporary observer. Although I do not live within zones of direct conflict, my awareness of these events—through news imagery, documentation, and historical records—has made me realize that the impact of war is not confined to the battlefield. It extends into everyday life, shaping emotions, perceptions, and consciousness far beyond the immediate theater of conflict.
This body of work reflects a world in which violence becomes a repeatedly consumed image through media channels. I take recorded images of wartime events, deconstruct and transform them, and reinterpret them through painting and drawing. The work is not intended as a factual record; rather, it seeks to question the “truths” that are selected for visibility, and those other truths that fade away under the mechanisms of power, politics, and vested interests.
The creative process functions as an excavation of perception itself, revealing layers where images of violence, aesthetic beauty, and viewers’ habitual responses intersect. I deliberately employ visual language that initially attracts the viewer, only to gradually expose discomfort, anxiety, and the hidden wounds beneath these images. In doing so, the work highlights the paradox of observing war from a safe distance.
In another sense, this series also serves as a critique of those in power, political structures, and systems that operate behind the violence and irreplaceable loss. Meanwhile, those most directly affected are often reduced to mere numbers or fleeting news images that fade from public attention.
Ultimately, “Have You Got Your Head in the Clouds or the Sand” does not aim to provide answers. Instead, it poses a direct question to the viewer: amidst the perception of war through media and art, are we escaping the truth by drifting within the aesthetic of the image, or are we complicit in our indifference to violence, rendering it invisible? As observers, will we remain passive onlookers, or will we dare to acknowledge and question the world of which we are an intrinsic part?