This piece is titled “Barbed Innocence”. It is a mixed media piece that reflects the tragic impact of racism and violence on humanity, especially children. The silk screen images depict a young Jewish, holocaust victim and a present-day Palestinian child. I created the images digitally from photographs and printed them onto cotton fabric. The images are sewn together with red thread and mounted on rusty, metal. The barbed wire serves to unify the images in a common experience of suffering the consequences of racial violence.

​

I have always been greatly saddened by the history of racism, especially when I studied about the atrocities that were committed against the Jewish people during World War II. As I child, I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and have never forgotten the heart-breaking images of innocent children who were murdered in the death camps. This is why I have such a difficult time understanding the ongoing conflict and violence between Jews and Palestinians in the Holy Land. When I see images of Palestinian children in refugee camps in Israel, I think about the images of incarcerated Jewish children. I don’t have the answer to why people who have been oppressed can also become oppressors.

​

What I want to say through this piece is that we must learn to see the similarities in our cultural and religious histories in order to stop the violence that racism breeds. As an artist, it is my hope and responsibility to ask questions visually that people will ponder and answer for themselves. I concluded the series with “Barbed Innocence” because the images of the children serve as a warning of what can happen when we do not recognize the humanity of people who are culturally and religiously different from ourselves. It also expresses my hope that we can teach children to honor and respect diversity rather than condemn it.

​