The other morning I listened on the radio to a journalist talking to men from Gaza and Israel about the current cease fire . The interviewer asked the Israeli if he thought he would ever again see his family members that were taken hostage , which included a small child now two , taken at eight months old by Hamas. The man thought for a moment, he took a breath and said ‘We must have hope’. The Palestinian who was asked about the war and his future said,  ‘We must have hope for peace’. 

As the news report unfolded, we were reminded that the release of Hamas and Israeli prisoners also creates a fear , as this, nor any ceasefire, is actually a deal . So the complexity and need for hope is there for us all to see. What is required the journalist said, lay at the feet of those in power and with the weapons, and it is dependent on how fragile and temporary that ceasefire might be in the face of so much anger and hurt , where things can so quickly return to yet more tragedy. 

With this in mind, I thought of the British war artist who captured devastating scenes so poignantly in his WW1 paintings. Paul Nash, who on witnessing first hand the ravages inflicted upon man and nature, merged his skill and depth of feeling, to reveal everything we could possibly fear or imagine the aftermath of war to look like. Below , “We are making a new world”. As one of the official artists he wrote “‘I am no longer an artist, I am a messenger who will bring back word from the men who are fighting to those who want the war to go on for ever. Feeble, inarticulate will be my message, but it will have a bitter truth, and may it burn their lousy souls”.

A century before in Britain, the human necessity for hope and faith in a better future can be found in the ceramics made in the Staffordshire potteries . I have long enjoyed these glazed earthenware figures and animals which tell stories . I have over the years, acquired a few damaged pieces, like this chipped pocket watch holder which reads ‘Band of Hope’ and which inspired this small still life .

I like many, believe that hope can help us survive impossible situations, give us a reason to live on , through darkness and hardships, which can at times, seem too great to endure.

Emily Dickinson “Hope is the thing with feathers. That perches in the soul. And sings the tune without the words.

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