One of the highlights of 2016 was painting a mural with US Embassy Santo Domingo to honor December 10, Human Rights Day. I was commissioned to create an image that speaks to the theme and lead a participatory process. We engaged approximately 100 employees, 30 of which painted alongside each other. I was honored to lead the process and make visual our commitment to Human Rights.
I started the mural design ahead of time yet experienced quite an artist’s block. The night before, after running errands and enjoying sunny days to combat the lack of inspiration, I locked in on an idea. I may draw 20 sketches for a project yet until the design is visually projected in my head I can not commit and sometimes my projection comes months, weeks or days before. In this case 24 hours prior which is not the ideal scenario.
The image can be interpreted in many ways. I strove to speak to the connectivity of us all. In order to eat and take care of basic human rights we must stand up for each other and have compassion. The woman holds a magazine of a young man slain by the police. Knowing she is deserving of law makers and policy that protects his existence is what allows a hungry man to eat. Our “deservingness” is like a ripple affect much like compassion, both values we need to remain vocal about in our own communities in order to achieve change globally.
Check out a video snippet below.
