For many years, Cornish has challenged himself and others with his art. Often confronting and always compelling, he never ceases to spark conversations around race, religion, conflict and the human condition. His work sees him travel to some of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world. The artist’s most recent trip abroad was to Syria.
Zero To The Left can be considered the artist’s most significant body of work to date. When discussing the show, Cornish states that his intentions are to: Put a human face on the effects of this war and raise awareness for the people caught in the middle of this conflict... In June 2016, Cornish travelled through Syria with Sydney’s Anglican Church Reverend Dave Smith, on his “Boxers for Peace” mission. In the midst of war and poverty, Cornish was overwhelmed by the positivity and hope that the civilians demonstrated - which prompted his second trip to the country in 2017. Upon his return to Australia, he began to create a body of work that revealed various aspects of the situation he witnessed: I looked at not only the destruction that six years of war has had on this beautiful country, but also the everyday lives of people caught in the middle, people just trying to get by, living under sanctions, aerial bombardment and regular suicide attacks. The title of the show - Zero To The Left, comes from an Arabic phrase “'sifr 'iilaa alyasar" which in mathematical terms means any leading zero to the left of a decimal point has no value. In slang terms, it is used to refer to somebody with little or no consequence; a nobody, a non entity - someone that doesn’t matter.
The title relates to the millions of innocent people caught in the middle of this conflict, and I'm aware there is a lot of scope for the title to be misconstrued. I'm not saying that these people don't matter, they do. I'm saying that they don't matter to the people dropping barrel bombs, the people blowing up school buses full of children, or funding this proxy war from thousands of miles away. The original works are a mixture of stencil, aerosol and sublimation on aluminium and canvas. All portray scenes from the places Cornish visited - the towns of Damascus, Aleppo, and Ma’aloula, and the roads in-between. They poignantly reflect current day life in Syria – they show tankers patrolling towns, homes reduced to rubble in war-torn neighbourhoods and the daily struggle of life for many civilians. As an artist Cornish is an incredible storyteller, he conveys not only his understanding of the situation he visited – but also how it feels to have your home and family caught up in conflict. As viewers, we can feel the looming fear that everyday Syrians are subject to, as well as the emptiness left by the thousands that have fled. Whilst many of the works paint rather bleak scenes, Cornish successfully captures the enduring hope and positivity of many of Syria’s people. It is often so hard for us here in “the lucky country” to imagine this environment for our own families – let alone our children. Although the works undeniably expose a devastating situation, there is one common theme throughout that is universally understood. Amongst scenes of war are children smiling and playing together, they are with their families and friends – and they are home. Houses appear in the children’s pictures - bright, bold colours detail two windows, a front door and a roof. As the saying goes, home is where the heart is - and this particularly rings true when viewing Zero To The Left. This is and always will be home. Always home for the people who have left, but more significantly it is still home for those that remained. It is for the ones that left and the ones that have stayed...the ones that have no say in how their government fights this war, the ones who have no say in the sanctions that are crippling their lives and the ones who have no say in foreign invaders bent on destroying their secular society; the everyday people just trying to get by.
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