I have posted this before, but I think after the events of the weekend it deserves another look. It was originally created in 2002 as part of a piece exhibited in "Prevailing Human Spirit", an exhibit at the Museum of American Illustration in New York. Immediately after September 11, 2001 there was an understandable air of dread, that some seemed to suggest would be a permanent state of affairs. We could have bowed to fear and overturned our whole philosophy of life and government, creating a police state with some amorphous idea of "security" overruling all other considerations. The Bush/Cheney administration did their best to bring such a concept to fruition. But our system was strong enough to limit the damage they were willing to do in order to achieve all of their ends, although plenty of those were still achieved and remain with us today.
But the boogeyman is finally dead. What this will change I don't know, but the symbolism of the act is strong, and if this end brings some measure of peace to those personally affected by the crimes perpetrated, then it's a good thing.
The important thing, as far as I'm concerned, is to not live in fear; fear of those different from ourselves, fear of things over which we have no control, and worst of all, fear of each other. The only message of this piece I would change is don't be afraid of anything, whether or not it's "evil".
No comments:
Post a Comment