22”x30”; monotype, photocopy lithography, linoleum carving and collagraph.

“Taking A Stand” is based on newspapers’ stories about the women of Afghanistan being held in contempt by men and made to wear burkas. These stories gave me pause. Maybe that’s true. But maybe that’s not. I felt that without actually knowing and understanding the Muslim culture, I couldn’t judge any of it.

“Bridges”, is inspired from the US intervention in Afghanistan. I focus on the humanist stories - lives of ordinary people in war-struck countries, and the way in which our lives are interwoven with theirs. Though we read about them in the papers, we often keep our emotional distance by viewing them as an impersonal mass. I find myself searching for intimacy through close-up portraits, resolved to highlight our universal similarities – a father’s concern over his child’s sickness, children after school, fleeing refugees. The intention behind my work is always to reach beyond the tragedy of one particular people, and bear witness to the senseless bloodsheds which punctuate our history – past and present. 

I started “Bridges” by creating a series of pencil drawings which I later transformed into printmaking plates to incorporate as one of the many layers that form the final print.