SHAJAREH TAYYEBEH*
- Rentai Caroline MABY
- Jun 11
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
BEARING WITNESS
Bearing Witness is a term used by Zen Peacemakers International — a collective and Zen Order to which I belong — to describe the practice of not looking away from suffering, but facing it — in the world as in ourselves — directly, and with compassion.
As artists, we make ourselves available to see life as it is, with an singular and free perspective. The Zen Peacemakers practice works in this direction: not by standardizing the view, but by loosening what encumbers it — conditioning, certainties, reflexes of avoidance — until something more direct can reveals itself.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF FORGETTING
The narrative of war is now dehumanized: we speak of drone strikes, missile counts, aircraft — as if it were a war of materiel. Yet in the age of instant images, civilian casualties that occur every day remain out of frame. They appear as the floating shadow of numbers.
“Lebanon: At least 12 killed in Israeli strikes in the south.” — Beirut, AFP, June 10, 2026.
Those who die torn apart, those who suffer — wounded, sick, displaced, starving, tortured — have disappeared. In the age of artificial intelligence, the delegation of ethical responsibility is becoming an increasingly pressing question : algorithms render civilian suffering invisible, autonomous weapons systems delegate targeting to the point of making death abstract. This betrays a growing and collective indignity of our humanity.
Artists have this opportunity to bring their gaze and their light to the suffering of the world.**
This approach aims to make possible a contemplation of what seems "unwatchable", thus allowing us to remain present in the face of unbearable realities, and to open ourselves to what emerges.
MINAB
On February 28, 2026, the first day of Israeli-American strikes against Iran, the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' primary school, located in Minab, was bombed.
At least 168 people were killed, mostly schoolgirls, according to UNICEF, and 95 others were injured. Iranian authorities reported 175 deaths, including 14 teachers.
The United States military is responsible for the massacre — confirmed by the Pentagon on March 2, 2026. ***
This event — which cannot be reduced to “collateral damage” — left me little room to paint anything else.
Not knowing how to approach this reality, I began by dedicating a long day in the studio to painting and repeating calligraphies of the word Sohl — Peace, in Persian.
MEDITATION IN ACTION
This work on paper appeared in the days that followed, deeply inspired by a Persian Sufi mystical poem.
“Every particle in the air and in the desert
is the place where divine beauty reveals itself.
To the eyes of those who see with the heart,
in every particle a thousand suns shine.
If the heart should one day truly see,
every breath holds a thousand meanings.
— Attributed to Sayf Farghānī or Jāmī (13th–15th centuries)
These girls were between 7 and 12 years old. They were going to school. Their names never reached us.
This painting is luminous. Pink, yellow, bright green — suns, fractured figures in the light. One might be surprised, even angered. This is not a deliberate choice but what emerged from the meditation of compassion. And perhaps what the poem says better than any figuration: to paint the light that was in these children is not to deny their death — it is to refuse to let it be their only truth. What is painted remains — even when the names have disappeared.
This is not an answer to horror — none exists.
It is an act of presence: to remain facing what is unbearable, without turning away, and to let something luminous pass through nonetheless. Bearing Witness means refusing to let these lives be reduced to numbers.
It is to insist — in painting as in looking — that in every life lost, an eternal sun was shining.
SHAJAREH TAYYEBEH, details | © Maby
This painting is still in the studio, and may continue to evolve: Bearing Witness also means not fixing a work in place as long as what set it in motion is still unfolding.
~ Sohl
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* Shajareh Tayyebeh: The name of the destroyed school means the Blessed Tree in Persian.
** This work is available at a free price in the BEARING WITNESS section of the GALLERY. All proceeds from the sale go to UNICEF : https://www.carolinemaby.art/en/product-page/shajareh-tayyebeh
