Although WALL\THERAPY organizers set a theme of arts and activism for this year’s
festival, they left the specifics up to the individual artists. Todd Stahl, a teacher
at Webster Thomas High School, began working Sunday at 59 Pennsylvania Avenue, assisted by
a few of his students. His mural features an oversize portrait of a young
Syrian girl amid loads of symbolism and patterns that are characteristic
of his work.
“I wanted to focus this year on Syrian refugee children,” Stahl says. He’s been
following the civil war and refugee crisis, but not very closely until
recently. “I had heard about the atrocities that were happening, but because
there’s so much happening in America, I didn’t really focus on it,” he says. “It’s so far
away. My wife and I love to watch documentaries, and we happened upon one on
Frontline called ‘Children of
Syria.’ It follows this family with three kids of varying ages, from high
school down to five, and a husband and wife.”
Despite the exodus, the family stayed in the city because the father began working with a group of resistance fighters. The kids homeschooled themselves. And walking around the city is a gambit — there are snipers in the buildings.
“It was really eye-opening,” Stahl says. “I have a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old. Our lives are so comfortable, even on days when we think, ‘Oh, life is hard.’ I don’t have to worry about snipers. Their city was in shambles.”
Stahl’s mural was specifically inspired by a scene in the documentary when the children
— the family having finally escaped the city — encounter the sea for the first
time. Their sense of freedom and relief was amazing, Stahl says. “I live close
to Lake Ontario and drive by it all of the time — you take it for granted.”
Central to his mural is a larger-than-life portrait of a Syrian girl, who is surrounded
by a barren landscape, but pulling the tide of the ocean up close to her heart,
like something precious.
The reference photographs for Stahl’s piece are sourced with permission from a Syrian
documentary photographer named Manar Bilal,
who was excited about Stahl’s project.
Off to the right of the girl, the sky is filled with silhouettes of World War II era
bombers — chosen because they are such an iconic war plane — transforming into
birds, like an M. C. Escher tessellation.
It wouldn’t be a Todd Stahl piece without text. A sign behind the girl points to
Damascus in one direction and Baghdad in the other, both city names appearing
in blocky English characters and flowing Arabic script. Bold red and white
diagonal stripes allude to “caution” signs as well as the American flag and our
decades-long presence in the Middle East.
While wall hunting with the WALL\THERAPY team, Stahl’s mural location changed a few
times before the current spot was agreed upon. He’s painting on two garage
doors, one of which have the wooden-assemblage look of much of Stahl’s studio
work. The left door features a giant hand throwing a peace sign and painted
barbed wire snakes across the surface, which has one or two broken windows. These
were left unrepaired, as they subtly reference the broken-down infrastructure
of war-torn cities.
Stahl will continue to work on his mural throughout the week. See the slideshow below
for some visuals, and follow us on Instagram @roccitynews for more
pictures and videos.
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2017.
