Untitled (Woman and Child in War Landscape) c. 1938

David Bekker made this stark, unsettling woodcut, a 'Woman and Child in War Landscape,' at an unknown date. It’s pure graphic punch, isn’t it? I think of the artist carving away at the block, a kind of brutal dance. It’s a very physical process that mimics the subject matter. You can feel the dread in this image. The texture of the wood grain itself becomes another layer of anxiety and tension. Those eyes! Like they’ve seen too much, which, I guess, is the point. Bekker is channeling something raw and visceral, very different to what some of his contemporaries were doing. It’s like he's dragging the depths of human experience into the light, forcing us to look. And you can’t turn away. Painting and drawing in times of trauma acts as a witness, it carries the message through time, so we don't forget.