Child Waving

This unsettling painting presents the dreamlike image of a figure with a dark cloud amassing above them. Based on a press photo shot from an airborne helicopter during the United States’ armed invasion of Iraq (2003–11), the painting reflects the slightly elevated position of the photographer who captured the original image. Soon after its creation, the work was exhibited as part of a series by Dumas devoted to the longstanding Palestinian and Israeli conflict. Is the child’s wave a gesture of greeting or goodbye? Does the dark cloud foretell catastrophe or is it the sign of a fire already raging in the distance? These poignant ambiguities communicate both the human cost of American incursions in the region and unease around the images that helped narrate them.