The work Lamentation of innocence (Genocide) uses the form of the Mughal miniature to convey the tragic death of innocents in a world motivated by political machinations and racial hatred. Against a red backdrop, dead animals and grey-faced human corpses lie in a heap, with limbs entangled in a white shroud. Saira Wasim uses red backdrops to suggest theatre and artifice, though red also suggests violence in this image. Of the work, Wasim has said:

Figures lay in a huddle mound; animals intertwined with humans all are caught together in a net of death. It offers a simple picture of senseless slaughter of innocence. This intimation of futility is, in part, what lends this painting its particular poignancy.¹

Despite the shocking nature of the subject, Lamentation of innocence (Genocide) is painted with the same delicacy and beauty as a Mughal miniature.
 

Endnote

1. Saira Wasim, email to Suhanya Raffel, 9 September 2005.