How to be a Good Activist
Materials: Hand-stretched canvas, acrylic paint, curiosity, empathy, a desire to put myself in other people’s shoes, verbal beatdowns by well-meaning true believers, seeing the difference made by true activism
Dimensions: 36x36
Series: How to Be a Good Series
Year: 2015
How to be a Good Activist (Blue) 36x36 Acrylic on canvas, 2015
How to be a Good Corporate Lawyer (Green) 36x36 Acrylic on canvas, 2015
How to be a Good Mistress (Red) 36x36 Acrylic on reclaimed canvas, 2014
I wanted to mentally put myself in the position of people who have very taboo social roles. People who are dealing daily with the question of morality. I chose three places to stand from, and asked myself questions about how these people live: How do they feel about what they’re doing? How do they deal with their morally questionable position? Who do they lie for? Who do they protect? Who benefits from their efforts? What’s in it for them? How do they reconcile what they’re doing? Who’s impacted? etc.
In each piece you will find black and white to represent their own inner moral conflict about what they’re doing. Only in How to be a Good Activist you will find the black replaced by a dark navy blue, because if you’ve ever spoken to a true activist there is no question for themselves about their own morality, it is the morality of others that they question. Like the saying “they see the world through rose colored glasses” only these rose colored glasses are for their cause.
How to be a Good Mistress is colored in deep red for the obvious scarlet letter red, but there is also pink for her perceived innocence and possibly youth. Silver because she is the silver lining to his life, and green because when I imagined dates the cliche outdoor picnics and walks in the park appeared to me.
How to be a good Corporate Lawyer is green for less obvious reasons. Its not money or greed, those are represented by the bits of gold. The green represents the environment, because often when a corporation is doing harm to something its mother nature who needs defending. Purple is the innocence of this person and the outlet that allows them to forget what they do on a daily basis. The place were they get to occasional wonder “how did I get here?” and leave it all behind for a moment.
How to be a Good Activist works in blues because my first exposure to an activist was in the stories of the 70’s and people protecting the oceans and whales. Water will always need our protection.