Weapon of Rage (2008)

This was the first piece I made in my senior year at school. It is a mixed media piece that includes acrylic paint, sand, ink, stencil and wire. It reflects my belief that peace cannot be achieved through war, using the 1960's radical organization Weatherman as an example. Weatherman orchestrated one of the first domestic terror campaigns in the US in protest to the war in Vietnam. A few years after the organisation was formed, three members were killed in the Greenwich Village explosion; the bomb they were preparing for an attack blew up.

The canvas arrangement signifies the dynamite that killed the members of Weatherman. It is ingrained with a photograph taken of members during a riot known as days of rage which is reconstructed in my own painting style. I used only warm colours and black to create signify the aggressive and violent attitude of the group. The image is framed by bricks representing the town house that the members tragically died in. Magenta ink is the blood seeping through.

I believe that it is the weapons that prevent war from leading to piece. Despite their 'good intentions', the bomb ultimately killed them. Their weapon, like all weapons, had only one function and that was to cause destruction. After all, a bomb can't decipher what side it is fighting on.