Saudi bombs kill Yemenis, Yemeni woman makes pro-peace art

Yemeni Saba Jallas' pro-peace art

On the left is a photo of a beautiful ancient building in the old inner city of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, with behind it, smoke from the destructive impact of the Saudi royal air force bombing. On the right, Yemeni Ms Saba Jallas has drawn flowers and a dove of peace over the image of bloody war.

From daily The Independent in Britain today about this, with more pictures by Saba Jallas there:

This Yemeni artist is drawing images of peace over photos of the war

Posted an hour ago by Bethan McKernan

Yemen’s sectarian civil war became a full-scale conflict in March last year, but has largely escaped Western media attention.

Saudi-led airstrikes launched at the request of the ousted Yemeni government have targeted schools, hospitals and markets and the civilian cost is already huge: around 6,000 people are thought to have died and 2.5 million people have fled their homes because of the conflict.

Amnesty International says that 80 per cent of the 21 million strong population are in need of aid.

With her country in crisis, artist Saba Jallas turned to her craft to try and find an outlet for her feelings of shock.

She found inspiration from Palestinian artists who drew over the smoke and explosions from the Gaza war in 2014 with pictures to inspire courage and hope.

Jallas started to create her own images on her smartphone, etching peaceful and compassionate scenes onto photographs of the destruction hitting Yemen.

Her pictures are posted onto Facebook, where they are beloved by both Yemenis and people around the world.

Many show women and children embracing.

And flowers feature heavily as a symbol of growth and beauty.

“Frankly I did not expect this reaction as an amateur,” Jallas told i100.co.uk.

People told me the pictures give them hope. The reaction of Yemeni people gave me the push to continue.

Jallas hopes that the violence will come to an end as soon as possible. But in the meantime, she is going to keep drawing:

I hope to see Yemen safe, and that everyone will live with love, tolerance and optimism like brothers and sisters.

I don’t know if it means much. But drawing is a way to heal.”