Take Off Your Shoes, You Are On Holy Ground

I shall reconcile with him on a battlefield.
I shall tell him what I want and what I do not want.
With every weapon I possess, I will strip him bare and reveal his greatness.
This being enchants me. he does it, only when he’s naked.
His body resembles rugged, mountainous terrain,
And his manhood is a tree that rises high, with branches of flesh. 
It’s roots, burrow deep into a past, into the bosom of a raging earth.
In my paintings and sculptures, I will listen to him,
He who speaks so little.
With a chisel’s strike at his throat, he will utter words.
Love, why are you constantly in search of power?
Why, my beloved, do you forsake your own head just to be the head of a woman and your body is left headless. 
When you lower your neck in weariness,
I bury my nose in that curve between your head and neck.
I inhale deeply… filling my chest with your scent,
For the fragrance of your exhaustion entices me.
Come, dance with me in our battlefield.
Be my tree. Lift me up. Teach me to fly.
Release me from the burden of the substance. 
In my childhood, my grandfather hung a swing for me on the largest walnut tree in our backyard.
Up till now, even though the tree was cut, I am still swinging on it. 
It embraces me like a man does.
It elevates me, I trust it’s solid branches.
To me this walnut tree is a grace that is aware of its responsibilities. 
Wake up! You are forbidden to sleep, but in my bosom. 
I am your fertile ground.
Take off your shoes.
I want for your feet the direct pleasure of touching what is sacred. 
Do not scatter your seeds and leave,
For if you do, you will leave cursed.
I am not a land of peace; I am no Garden of Eden.
I am a battlefield that demands a first-class warrior.

According to the Embodied Realities Exhibition's curator Dr. Pamela Chrabieh, "Jeanne d'Arc Bou Younes’ artwork is a visceral exploration of the male body, power, and vulnerability, presented through a surreal and fragmented lens. The reclining figure, intertwined with fleshy, tree-like appendages, evokes themes of masculinity as a force of nature and a battlefield of identity, desire, and struggle. The raw, organic forms extend beyond the body, merging into tangled roots and abstract explosions, suggesting a confrontation between the physical and the metaphysical—between history, memory, and transformation.

This piece engages deeply with the body as a site of both conflict and intimacy. The man's body, sculptural in its mountainous presence, is imposing and yielding—his masculinity is revealed not in dominance but in exposure, in the act of being stripped down to his essence. The intricate detailing of the limbs, gnarled and extended like a tree, suggests resilience and rootedness, while the head, seemingly detached or dissolving into the chaotic background, raises questions about the loss of self in pursuit of power, love, or redemption. Bou Younes’ work, much like her poetic narrative, challenges traditional depictions of the male body, presenting it as a dynamic, evolving entity—both a warrior and a vessel of surrender, a monument to strength and vulnerability".

**Monumental Unmounted Canvas.