From many images coming from a war environment we see women with sad faces trying to protect their offspring by carrying their children in their arms. Women had been known to suffer atrocities during war time. Not only they suffered for the safety of their children, but they also suffered for themselves.

When these women are silent, it does not mean that they did not really suffer. Often, a woman suppresses her suffering, because expressing her suffering is like breaking the only defense she knows against psychological breakdown. This happens especially if she does not receive any support from the society she lives in. In some part of the world, a raped woman is considered to be a lost soul. Her own people refuse her presence among them.

Rapes of women happen all the time all over the world. Many women suffer silently because they know they have to be strong for the sake of their offspring.

"I made these sketches in 1992, at the beginning of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina (the former Jugoslavia) which made my heart bled. Many women and young girls were raped."

"I wanted to express the suffering and pain of these women. The images of the cross on the background of these sketches are signs of my hope in Christ."

From March 26, 1983, Karl Gaspar was in prison for almost two years. Like so many
other detainees, his "crime" was his commitment to work and speak on behalf of the other detainees, his "crime" was his commitment to work and speak on behalf of the
Philippine people who are suffering poverty and oppression. After a few weeks he wrote:

Friendships [in prison] are easily fostered.
When a new detainee comes, everyone introduces himself and the newcomer is encouraged to talk about himself, his arrest, his case. Stories are told and retold and there are comparisons of the extent of torture. The new detainee feels welcomed by all the attention. Since there is hardly any privacy in the cells, detainees get to know each other quickly and deeply.
Problems are shared as people listen to each other pour out the despair that is in their hearts. When tears are shed, comfort is given. When one is depressed, a hand is extended. Compassion and mercy is a way of life here, and it is not very difficult to try to be like St. Fronds "to console, to understand, to love."

How Long? Prison Reflections of Karl Gaspar
Claretian Publications

Religious art is not just for private enjoyment, nor for other worldly contemplation, but it has a prophetic role, since it comes from the mind of artists who touches the depths of pain and who hears the cries of the oppressed.

The following are some art works of:
Alberto Jimenez - Philippine, Ang Kiu Kok - Philippine, Edgar Fernandez - Philippine, Gael O'Leary - New Zealand, Yerry Padang - Indonesia.

Please click the thumbnails to see their art works.