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Boxed In

by Jane Robinette

acrylic, ink, 31-3/4x24" (framed)
read statement
Jane's website

detail:

boxed in (detail), copyright 2006-07 Jane Robinette | All Rights Reserved

STATEMENT:
Black-and-white thinking not only boxes in our ability to be creative, to empathize, and to see the complexities of the world, but also limits the number and quality of options in the future. The Bush administration's language and actions in initiating and conducting the war in Iraq are only one example—but a very costly one.

Against the blood-red background, I used an ongoing chronological list of US soldiers who have been killed in the Iraq war and printed their first names in the area surrounding the outline of Iraq. Inside Iraq I wrote the first names of a small portion of the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed.

The act of lettering each name on the painting became a meditation or prayer for the real person it signifies. I grieve for all of those who have lost their lives during this misadventure.