Traditionally, an ex-voto is a votive offering, given in fulfilment of a vow in gratitude to a saint or divinities. An ‘ex-voto’ — Latin for, roughly, ‘from the vow made’ — may be a painting, often naïve or resembling folk art, abut not always. It could comprise plaster limbs, symbolic crutches, canes and boats, signs of healing prayers answered, in gratitude for cures. This votive ritual dates back to ancient pagan beliefs within Rome, Mesopotamia and Egypt, so the practice has spanned centuries and cultures.

In the contemporary South-West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), artists escaping wars, colonisations, occupations, dictatorships, oppression and economical bankruptcies, express powerfully the miracle of surviving and the ritual of life. Rebellion, liberation, resilience and massive talent are needed to overcome such calamities in artworks reflecting the destruction, humiliations, deceptions and injustices that the region has had to suffer in the past seven decades — starting with the creation of states based on religion, and later control over the ownership of oil and its prices.

Artists: Maliheh Afnan (Palestine), Farhad Ahrarnia (Iran), Nasser Al Aswadi (Yemen), Ayman Baalbaki (Lebanon), Said Baalbaki (Lebanon), Tagreed Darghouth (Lebanon), Abdul Rahman Katanani (Palestine), Khayzaran (Yemen), Issam Kourbaj (Syria), Ramzi Mallat (Lebanon), Mehdi Navabi (Iran), Nayla Romanos Iliya (Lebanon), Raeda Saadeh (Palestine), Walid Siti (Iraq).

Curated by Rose Issa