I was asked a couple of times today about if I'd continue working on the scrolls now that Osama Bin Laden is dead. Upon giving it some thought I reminded them that I want to continue this until there are withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of what I've been focused on is about the true power brokers , and the complicity of the media to convince Americans to go to war in the first place. Orwell's books had a major impact on me in high school and I am fascinated by how prophetic his words are in this day and age. Though I'm glad justice has been served in Bin Laden's killing I can't help but wonder about the C.I.A.'s role in creating such a monster. I can't help but feel for the 9/11 families and yet look at how the right and neocons used and manipulated 9/11 to erode many of our civil liberties. I'm also still looking at who profits from the wars and how much control they have on what we read and believe.
Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn's writing gives me a stronger context of what to study and how to avoid the ideological trappings of the left and the right.
Recently I checked out Steve Mumford's book Baghdad Journal an artist in occupied Iraq. The sketches and watercolor paintings he created while being with the U.S. troops are both very personal and yet gives me a stronger window into the lives of the people we are there to save. It's also given me more ideas about where I can go with the scrolls since I'm trying to involve more situations and interactions among various figures .
Right now I'm looking at oil dependency, hateful propaganda and media distortions. I'm using pencil and Chinese ink brushes and testing other media on the surface.
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