Matthew Collings: Suffering

Suffering shows ten new paintings by Matthew Collings that deal with the suffering of civilians in Gaza. The focus is on human loss through military violence – the destruction of families, schools, cultural places, and everyday lives.

One example is the portrait of Palestinian artist Heba Zagout, who was killed in 2023 along with two of her children during an airstrike. The painting is based on one of her last public appearances, where she said that art was her way of expressing Palestinian identity.

Collings uses stories like hers as a starting point to reflect on death, pain, and the lives that get erased. The paintings don’t show war scenes directly, but quiet images of loss and disappearance. Suffering is a political protest and a reflection on the cost of war – a cost always paid by civilians, with their lives.