Jill Holder

A Handful of Dust

Is it religion or money or power that causes wars?  Or is it the innocent many led by the dangerous few.

War – talked about, sung about, and written about. For me there is no glory, no reason to wave flags, only destruction and decay. Caught in the middle of every conflict are children. Children. They are starving through associated famine, losing limb or life in attacks, losing their innocence and grace as they are taught to use weapons to kill.

I feel deeply, deeply sad and frustrated that I can do so little to help: that I have no answers to give. Maybe each and every instance of a child injured, killed or taught warfare should be counted as a war crime – for that is how I see it. Not just a crime against opposing forces but against all of us.

As I said – sad, frustrated and so helpless. All I feel able to do, as an artist, is to try to show the absolute waste and misery, and hope that if enough people see and understand and react, that change will start to happen.

Jill Holder lives and works in the South East of England. She has shown her work internationally and more recently worked in partnership with artist Bob Lamoon as Artists in Residence at the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge in Canterbury, Kent.