"Injustice." By Rosemary Williams, October 2024
Graphite and Charcoal on Paper, Framed 37X41
For inquiries please contact RT3williams@gmail.com This drawing is of a U.S. border patrol agent who is aggressively rounding up a family from Haiti in order to escort them back over the Texas border. This scene represents controlling anger because it shows anger, or the causes of anger, in various stages, and may evoke anger in the observer.
Anger arises when we sense that an injustice has been done. I named this piece “Injustice” because it represents the hoarding of resources on one hand and the denial of resources on the other. This theme can be found represented throughout the drawing.
Uncontrolled anger blinds us to the needs of others and cripples our humanity. The border patrol agent is in such a state where he is past controlling his anger and has allowed it to overcome him. He uses it as one of the weapons in his arsenal, which is already fully stocked with a gun, a knife, a radio, a truck (sitting just to the right of this scene), a horse and all its trappings, not to mention that he will have full meals at lunchtime and dinner, all the water he could need and a place to go home to. Perhaps he is feeling the injustice of having his livelihood threatened by illegal citizens, but more likely he is just allowing the hierarchy of society to dictate and justify his aggression.
The Haitian family is in flight mode at the moment, but it would be natural for them to have anger about this situation. The man in the foreground wears only a t-shirt and shorts and carries a plastic water canteen. He carries no weapon and does not even have shoes. The woman and child are almost off the picture, showing their marginalization in society. What could we say about the simmering anger of a child growing up without having their basic needs cared for? What anger could we imagine a woman would be feeling in this situation?
Jesus is symbolized by the cross made by the whip and its shadow. His “gospel” of love is being strangled and made ineffective by the anger of the agent. Other symbols of aggression can be found in the skulls on his knuckles, a bound and gagged man looking directly at the agent on the mane of the horse, a stealthy hand reaching for the knife, and other symbols, left to be found and interpreted by the observer. The presence of these objects, contrasted with the simplicity of the Haitian family, tells again of the injustice between the haves and the have-nots.
The woman and child look like they could belong to a fairer race than the Haitian man. This was purposely done. Jesus reminds us that what we do to the least of these is also done unto him, and if the society that the agent represents could.
Graphite and Charcoal on Paper, Framed 37X41
For inquiries please contact RT3williams@gmail.com This drawing is of a U.S. border patrol agent who is aggressively rounding up a family from Haiti in order to escort them back over the Texas border. This scene represents controlling anger because it shows anger, or the causes of anger, in various stages, and may evoke anger in the observer.
Anger arises when we sense that an injustice has been done. I named this piece “Injustice” because it represents the hoarding of resources on one hand and the denial of resources on the other. This theme can be found represented throughout the drawing.
Uncontrolled anger blinds us to the needs of others and cripples our humanity. The border patrol agent is in such a state where he is past controlling his anger and has allowed it to overcome him. He uses it as one of the weapons in his arsenal, which is already fully stocked with a gun, a knife, a radio, a truck (sitting just to the right of this scene), a horse and all its trappings, not to mention that he will have full meals at lunchtime and dinner, all the water he could need and a place to go home to. Perhaps he is feeling the injustice of having his livelihood threatened by illegal citizens, but more likely he is just allowing the hierarchy of society to dictate and justify his aggression.
The Haitian family is in flight mode at the moment, but it would be natural for them to have anger about this situation. The man in the foreground wears only a t-shirt and shorts and carries a plastic water canteen. He carries no weapon and does not even have shoes. The woman and child are almost off the picture, showing their marginalization in society. What could we say about the simmering anger of a child growing up without having their basic needs cared for? What anger could we imagine a woman would be feeling in this situation?
Jesus is symbolized by the cross made by the whip and its shadow. His “gospel” of love is being strangled and made ineffective by the anger of the agent. Other symbols of aggression can be found in the skulls on his knuckles, a bound and gagged man looking directly at the agent on the mane of the horse, a stealthy hand reaching for the knife, and other symbols, left to be found and interpreted by the observer. The presence of these objects, contrasted with the simplicity of the Haitian family, tells again of the injustice between the haves and the have-nots.
The woman and child look like they could belong to a fairer race than the Haitian man. This was purposely done. Jesus reminds us that what we do to the least of these is also done unto him, and if the society that the agent represents could.
Graphite and Charcoal on Paper, Framed 37X41
For inquiries please contact RT3williams@gmail.com This drawing is of a U.S. border patrol agent who is aggressively rounding up a family from Haiti in order to escort them back over the Texas border. This scene represents controlling anger because it shows anger, or the causes of anger, in various stages, and may evoke anger in the observer.
Anger arises when we sense that an injustice has been done. I named this piece “Injustice” because it represents the hoarding of resources on one hand and the denial of resources on the other. This theme can be found represented throughout the drawing.
Uncontrolled anger blinds us to the needs of others and cripples our humanity. The border patrol agent is in such a state where he is past controlling his anger and has allowed it to overcome him. He uses it as one of the weapons in his arsenal, which is already fully stocked with a gun, a knife, a radio, a truck (sitting just to the right of this scene), a horse and all its trappings, not to mention that he will have full meals at lunchtime and dinner, all the water he could need and a place to go home to. Perhaps he is feeling the injustice of having his livelihood threatened by illegal citizens, but more likely he is just allowing the hierarchy of society to dictate and justify his aggression.
The Haitian family is in flight mode at the moment, but it would be natural for them to have anger about this situation. The man in the foreground wears only a t-shirt and shorts and carries a plastic water canteen. He carries no weapon and does not even have shoes. The woman and child are almost off the picture, showing their marginalization in society. What could we say about the simmering anger of a child growing up without having their basic needs cared for? What anger could we imagine a woman would be feeling in this situation?
Jesus is symbolized by the cross made by the whip and its shadow. His “gospel” of love is being strangled and made ineffective by the anger of the agent. Other symbols of aggression can be found in the skulls on his knuckles, a bound and gagged man looking directly at the agent on the mane of the horse, a stealthy hand reaching for the knife, and other symbols, left to be found and interpreted by the observer. The presence of these objects, contrasted with the simplicity of the Haitian family, tells again of the injustice between the haves and the have-nots.
The woman and child look like they could belong to a fairer race than the Haitian man. This was purposely done. Jesus reminds us that what we do to the least of these is also done unto him, and if the society that the agent represents could.