This image is indicative of how I see the world around me daily. When I’m meeting someone for the first time my mind immediately goes to their functions and how they look without all the outside details. Its as if I want to see and experience the dance of all the muscle strands functioning together to display that radiant smile or frown. I want to see them, I want to go deeper than the surface of what we present to each other. We cultivate how we feel most comfortable and then use this as a shield to present to the world that I’m someone I matter, and to protect ourselves. This same outside covering has been used to divide people since the beginning of time. Why is that? Why can’t people jump-start or reprogram their minds to revert to when we were children without prejudice and without hate for that which was different?
When I created this piece, I wanted to show the complexity and depth of humans. Some have more melanin than others, some are taller, shorter, have curly or straight hair. In my mind, I rip the flesh from our bodies and provide a transparent skin like substance for protection. You’d be hard pressed to find the difference of who is: gay, straight, black, white, Asian, atheist, religious, a painter, a lawyer, wealthy or poor. This way we would see what we all are … humans.
Why is this so dominant in humans? This need to separate and find a tribe with whom they feel comfortable with? I’ve never observed this so strong in other species. Yet for us the supposedly most intelligent species we kill, maim, and destroy each other over our color, beliefs, sex, end so on. I personally remember high school and how at that time people were divided in groups such as jocks, grunge, goth, geeks, popular etc. What I remember is I loved that I didn’t fit anywhere, I choreographed my own dance interweaving all the groups. Driving myself insane suffering bullying at times trying to be free to appreciate them all. I had friends in all the idiotic categories and couldn’t rationalize why I had to choose. They all had something to give and express. At the rare instances you would see this come together when they had to work as a team to make an event or something happen.
I have so many experiences that prove to me how wonderful people can be when they desire to be so. When we focus on a common goal and not divide based on lies or hate or differences. I am a bit naive maybe, I mean hell at one point while I was a child I used to lose it every time I learned of something horrible happening in the world. It’s as if I could sense and feel it all over my body. The following despair would be all consuming, and the depths of my depressive feelings knew no limits. It is still like it is for me today, this is where my art always comes in, it’s always been my lover of sorts, always there, always helping to lighten the load. This helps me experience the world in a different way. This painting means a great deal to me, it represents how I experience people. Starting from a point of respect and love wanting to know them and understand them and connect with them without prejudice.
ArcticamazonKKF 