An Honourable Betrayal

This painting and drawing project is inspired by characters and plot lines in An Honourable Betrayal.

The art works focus on three female characters in the book: Dr. Rachel Cauvin, a former American trauma specialist now supporting the Houthi-inspired rebel cause in Yemen; Samira Qasim, wife of Houthi high command leader Khalil Qasim, and Jenni Brodeur, a Paris-based Al Jazeera journalist.

Each of the characters’ visual references are inspired by three well-known paintings. These help establish each character’s pictorial structure. Rachel’s artworks draw on Nicholas Poussin’s Dance to the Music of Time (1634); Samirah’s draws on Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne (1524). And Jenni’s images are inspired by Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun’s Self Portrait with daughter Julia (1789).