Description

The Peace Pipe
200 × 200 cm
Oil & Mixed Media on Canvas
unstretched

With The Peace Pipe, Dhira Barein creates a large-scale, narratively charged composition about female freedom, self-determination, and the right to occupy one’s own space. The work brings together women of different ethnic backgrounds and different faiths, seated around a table — playing cards, sharing a moment, indulging in pleasure, and inhabiting a scene of independence and lived presence.

The strength of the painting lies precisely in this sense of ease: the women appear in a state of autonomy, individuality, and social freedom that has not always been granted to them — and is still not universally accepted today. What unfolds here is more than a scene of gathering; it is an image of free will, agency, and the claim to define one’s own life.

The title The Peace Pipe suggests dialogue, coexistence, and a shared humanity beyond origin, religion, and social restriction. Dhira Barein combines painterly depth with symbolic openness and social tension, creating a work that feels powerful, human, and layered.

With its monumental 200 × 200 cm format, the painting carries strong spatial presence and functions particularly well as a central statement piece within a collection or curated presentation.