Where to from here

There seems to be an ongoing struggle I'm having with my work on the scroll into 2013. The more research I'm doing , the more disturbed I am about where this project is going to end with our tentative withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2016 according to President Obama. Afghanistan is less in the news, if at all, and the focus is on the NSA violating the privacy of the American public and the cover up by the Obama administration. The most recent part of the scroll besides  theTrayvon Martin trial and  right wing attacks on Obamacare have been on the prosecution of war crimes of member's of the Bush Administration. Even though none of them will do jail time it's a symbolic victory. Cheney, Rumsfeld,Haynes, Bybee and John Yoo were all convicted in Malaysia for torture and inhumane treatment of people  during their time in office. Thanks to the Commission's Register of War Criminals it's now a matter of public record. Malaysia's ex Prime Minister Mahuthir Mohamad as prosecutor  made the charges. Frances Boyle of the University of Illinois is hoping to prosecute Bush himself for war crimes. Dick Cheney in his memoirs indicates he himself is scared or being prosecuted for war crimes. Both disturbing and inspiring to me as an artist to work on this point in history as it unravels.  



Being snubbed by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright at the Kennedy Library at a book signing two years ago has made me insecure about message, marketing and meaning behind the project. Originally the scroll was an educational project for my son's benefit , but since my experience in grad school at the Art Institute of Boston I've begun looking at it in a much broader context.  My defense committee had me considering the Smithsonian  as a possible place for an exhibition.  I like the video idea my mentor Lee Weinstein and I have for a possible display and it worked well at my thesis exhibit last year in showing 4 years of the scroll digitally stitched together by a program Lee created. Adding audio of me narrating it made it work well as the video displayed the scroll in a slow movement that lasted an hour.  We are going to tentatively do more research on how to market the project and how to add commentary from people who have seen it and their responses to it.

The direction of the country since my last post has changed dramatically since the 2012 election. The Republican Party has truly drawn a line that is hostile to unions, the poor, women's reproductive rights, LGBT rights and African American and Latino rights. There is no need to work in a way in which there's a presentation of both sides and opinions when looking at the Koch Brothers and other plutocrats indicate that they are willing to pay networks ( like Fox) for opinions and realities that are detrimental to me as a parent, taxpayer and African American. My cynicism in the work at this point has been a slow crawl to looking at positive aspects or the political spectrum. People like Senator Elizabeth Warren and her attempts to regulate Wall Street and City Councillor Tito Jackson trying to stop violence in urban areas of Boston, and bring jobs to the community, I'm more inclined to draw my responses to events AFTER I participate in rallies, hearings and  the electoral process. I think it will help me grow further as an artist.