A day in the life.
In response to the death of George Floyd and the BLM movement, I have produced this piece. It's about walking that mile in somebody else's shoes, and having the foresight and empathy to perhaps try and understand the world in a different way.
We really don't know the back story to what's going on in the lives of people closest to us, so how can we determine the struggles of complete strangers. We've no idea what journey they're on.
And this isn't necessarily a statement about race, it encompasses religion, political persuasion, sexual oriantation, or pretty much anything that doesn't align with our own blinkered view.
From an early age we've been conditioned into seeing the baddies, cowboys versus Indians, playing war games against the Russians, hell, even fans of differing sports teams spew hatred and violence on a daily basis.
So the painting is full of symbology, the turquoise represents the Statue of Liberty, a monument supposedly erected to welcome immigrants arriving in NY, the red and orange highlights prison uniforms, the broken glass shows the slums, a boat full of migrants journey across on a dark and stormy sea. The crucifix made from girders, hinting at low paid construction work, burnt out candles signifies poverty, the begging hand, tattooed with slave markings, nailed to the scales of justice, the plate empty and unbalanced. The floor, a patchwork of tribal flags, trampled underfoot. Next to the face a light bulb resembling a noose looks like a beady eye, a camera watching the subjects every move, pays tribute to Picassos Guernica, symbolising the suffering and violence from a silent civil war.
The figure itself is bloated and twisted, naked in the spotlight, helplessly shackled and bound, overwhelmed and almost handicapped in appearance.
So there it is.
Perhaps what we can take away from this is to just be a bit kinder to each other, and actually its a lot easier to be nice, rather than carry round so much anger and hatred for your fellow man.
We really don't know the back story to what's going on in the lives of people closest to us, so how can we determine the struggles of complete strangers. We've no idea what journey they're on.
And this isn't necessarily a statement about race, it encompasses religion, political persuasion, sexual oriantation, or pretty much anything that doesn't align with our own blinkered view.
From an early age we've been conditioned into seeing the baddies, cowboys versus Indians, playing war games against the Russians, hell, even fans of differing sports teams spew hatred and violence on a daily basis.
So the painting is full of symbology, the turquoise represents the Statue of Liberty, a monument supposedly erected to welcome immigrants arriving in NY, the red and orange highlights prison uniforms, the broken glass shows the slums, a boat full of migrants journey across on a dark and stormy sea. The crucifix made from girders, hinting at low paid construction work, burnt out candles signifies poverty, the begging hand, tattooed with slave markings, nailed to the scales of justice, the plate empty and unbalanced. The floor, a patchwork of tribal flags, trampled underfoot. Next to the face a light bulb resembling a noose looks like a beady eye, a camera watching the subjects every move, pays tribute to Picassos Guernica, symbolising the suffering and violence from a silent civil war.
The figure itself is bloated and twisted, naked in the spotlight, helplessly shackled and bound, overwhelmed and almost handicapped in appearance.
So there it is.
Perhaps what we can take away from this is to just be a bit kinder to each other, and actually its a lot easier to be nice, rather than carry round so much anger and hatred for your fellow man.