Keith Ang

Oil on panel board, 30cm x 30cm

In today’s world, wherein the global population has just endured a deadly pandemic, and watches now in horror as war rages in Ukraine, it is natural to feel small and helpless. A common habit that developed during COVID was to ‘doomscroll’, to read endlessly disturbing news articles about world events, and to feel frozen with fear, like nothing we do as individuals matters.

Our Eyes Are Watching God engages with this darkness and sees light. Through prayer, and a desire for peace (symbolized by the dove and olive branch), we transform passivity into action. Our hope is that, just as it happened to Noah after the flood, a rainbow will appear (also within the eye); a sign that the human family will be united in joy once more.

The title of the artwork references Zora Neal Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in which her characters “seemed to be staring at the dark,” resigned to whatever fate nature has in store for them. But because “their eyes were watching God”, they look instead – with hope in their hearts – to God for salvation.