Those from Jigjiga

The subject of this work comes from a small photograph that the artist, who studied printmaking under esteemed professor Paul Arnold as an undergraduate at Oberlin College, saw in the New Orleans Times-Picayune in late 1977 or early 1978. At that time, Jigjiga, Ethiopia, was subject to battles and bombing during the Ogaden (EthioSomali) War. The image Smock memorialized in this print evocative of tragedy and resilience showed a woman and child, with another child behind them, fleeing the city during the destruction and after the death of the woman’s husband.