Little Boy Lives in a Copper Camp

At the Phoenix Museum of Art I encountered what is my favorite work of art. Nothing before has ever resonated with me like this piece. It by Arizona artist Lew Davis and is titled: Little Boy Lives in a Copper Camp -1939 - oil on canvas. If I could have one work of art to look upon every day of my life it would be this. In the boy's expression you see the longing for a life that will never be. How much potential, how much imagination how much life and dreams of young boys and girls have been squandered for the benefit of the power mongers? He wears loose fitting pants and has no shirt, thus no pride, no identity, no hope. I think of all the children who's lives are ruined every day and I am filled with sadness and rage.

Mors Violenta

This etching with aquatint à la poupée plate is part of the Pipelines and Borderlines portfolio exchange project in which I had previously participated in with the piece Atra Mors. This 3rd iteration of the portfolio is based on actual stories of the havoc that extreme energy extraction has wrought on the environment, communities and people's lives. I chose to depict the fuel train derailment in 2014 that obliterated the Canadian town of Lac-Mégantic and took the lives of 47 people including children. These derailments and oil spills are worsening every year. From 1975-2012 a total of 800,000 gallons of crude oil had been spilled in US derailments. In 2013 alone over 1.15 million gallons had been spilled. Our blind dependence on fossil fuels is literally destroying peoples lives and livelihoods. The title is taken by the town's coroner who was quoted as saying that the 47 people killed had died "A Violent Death."