I lay there pondering my situation, lost in the desert, and in danger, naked between sky and sand and stars, withdrawn by too much silence from the poles of my life. 

From Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What makes this newest body of work so powerful is the coalescence of elements - our aloof egotist, his inhospitable environment, and the invisible ley lines that connect them all together.  Our protagonist no longer remains agnostic to what's happening around him, with a crescendo in each piece of Smokey being notably more taken with his environment.  

Now, Smokey appears to have transformed from a detached and indomitable character into an evocative persona that personifies how much of the world feels today - isolated, yearning for humanity, unproductive - in a vast barren landscape of uncertainty.  

In “All Before Me 2,” our gaze falls upon a man staring into the distance - arms upon hips, stripped bare, and lethargic in the face of his reality. Reminiscent of Lucian Freud, Onditi has transformed Smokey from a determined proletariat to mere mortal, exposing his raw state.  What becomes painfully clear is that Smokey can no longer remain passive in the face of his environment - that there exists a co-dependency between individual and system, one that plays out in various dramas but remains an ever present reality.  

In “Mediterranean Dream,” the unmistakable challenges confronting refugees as they flee their harsh geopolitical circumstances is juxtaposed against the blighted destination and tainted passageway - evoking a plea for commonality and interdependence rather than the pursuit of isolationism.   

Onditi’s imaginative world has come full circle, portraying Smokey in a drama of societal and economic ley lines, interconnected systems that beg to be recognized but remain often hidden beneath the surface. 

We are one, after all, you and I, together we suffer, together exist, and forever will recreate each other.

― Teilhard de Chardin