Ronald Orphuis’ paintings are realistic representations of the brutality of the Bosnian war. His aim is to encourage audiences to connect with the experience of distress that is evoked from these vivid and often disturbing paintings in order to truly comprehend the atrocities of the Srebrenica massacre.
“I have been painting since I was 17 – so that’s more than 25 years now! You see a lot in that time, and you experience a lot, too. I, like many others, have been truly shocked by the brutality of the war in the former Yugoslavia. I remain particularly moved by the experiences of those in Srebrenica, and I wanted to capture that reality in its essence. I think art is a wonderful medium, which encourages people to really engage with their feelings. And I wanted these pieces to evoke difficult, complex feelings, so that we can assess what actually happened here, and learn from it.”
