Joseph Paul Gerges’ current body of work explores notions of mortality, vulnerability, loss, and survival. Shaped by notable artist-printmakers including Rembrandt, Goya, and Käthe Kollwitz amongst others, Gerges employs the visual rhetoric of the sublime, the intimate, and the painful while blurring the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation. Conceived during a period of great adversity in the artist’s life, these delicate, anthropomorphic compositions illustrate the many facets of human hardship. The prints lay bare a provocative dialogue juxtaposing death and mortality with life’s tender and often overlooked moments. The animal tableaus are memorials to the aftermath of these experiences—surveying the damages to both the innocent and the culpable. Gerges creates a visual record that unveils a complex compassionate narrative, one that reflects the innermost strength and determination of the human spirit to overcome, and even embrace our lamentations as a means of propelling us forward in our shared humanity.
