“...the mere conquest of our enemies is not enough;
we must go on to do all in our power to conquer the
doubts and the fears, the ignorance and the greed,
which made this horror possible.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
We all remember where we were on September 11, 2001 and what we were doing at the moment we first heard the news. I was in my studio, where I listened to the entire tragedy unfold. Two thoughts came to mind: our lives would be forever changed and now we were one with the rest of the world.
Since that date, our leaders have embarked on a campaign they never had to consider before, how to make our geographically isolated country safe from terror. This artwork is about questions and not about answers. Is it possible to be safe from terror?
The first painting in this series is “Missed Opportunities” that includes the faces of all those killed in suicide attacks in Israel from September 2000 to September 2002, people just like me and you. It also includes the faces of the 19 terrorists who perpetrated the September 11th atrocity. The next set of paintings explore the Homeland Security system of color based terror alert levels. Ironically, they are in the colors of the rainbow. Do you know what level we are currently at? Have we ever been at the low level (there is no such thing as NO level)? We have been at the Orange level on July 4th and during the two political conventions. We will likely be at the Orange level again or maybe higher on election day. Does this make you feel safer? Does it make you concerned about going out to vote on election day?
Do you know what to do at each of these levels? Do you know what you are supposed to have at home for each of these levels? How would you react if we were told we are now at Level Red? Even if you know what to do and what to have on hand, does this make you feel secure or fearful? It took some digging to get the correct information, which I am sharing with you here.
This brings me to the final question. What does it mean: “report suspicious behavior?” What does suspicious behavior mean and how would you report it? The final painting in this series is “A Definition”. This might give you a hint about who the suspicious ones might be. What do our leaders hope to achieve?
Having put questions of a serious nature into your head, I end this show with the “Bingo” series, to end on a more lighthearted note. As game boards are a theme in this body of work, I have created paintings out of Bingo markers from an old children’s game. They are random and mundane items from life, so whether you feel secure or fearful, life goes on. Just keep asking questions and lets hope for no October surprises.