"Suffer the little children..." started as a series of portraits of Syrian, Yemeni, Iraqi, Palestinian, and refugee children who are growing up in war-torn countries. In the beginning of the series, I chose to focus on those children who are living in this hell, though there are those who have been killed that I feel compelled to record their likeness, such as Abdul-Hamid Alyousef's twin son and daughter who, along with 11 other members of his family including his wife, were killed in Bashar al-Assad's chemical attack on his own people on April 4, 2017.
The wars in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq continue, as well as the apartheid in Israel oppressing and killing Palestinian people, many of whom are children and teens, and all the people suffer. Many have fled the wars and yet continue to suffer in different ways in refugee camps across the Middle East and Europe. This is a crisis that we in the United States can easily choose to ignore because it is a world away, but our country is complicit, as are we if we turn a blind eye to such suffering of others. What makes this worse is the fear mongering of our own government against Muslims (so we don't say anything as they bomb and kill innocent men, women, and children) and the rampant fear and hatred of Muslims in the name of "security." There is also our own country that is complicit in the bombing of Syrian civilians and the support of the Saudi and Assad attacks on the Syrian people.
In 2018 it came to light that our own government has been separating children from their parents at our own southern border, and imprisoning them for illegal lengths of time in horrible conditions. These children range from infants and toddlers to teens. They were being put in cages with cement floors and only given a mylar emergency blanket for bedding (and documented neglect, sexual abuse, and physical abuse is common in these contracted “housing” facilities). There has been several court rulings now that forbids the separation of children from their families, but now the whole families are being detained in such facilities. 6 children in 6 months have died in custody; 5 in 3 months.
Now that the atrocities of our own government, on our own soil was revealed, it is much harder to ignore, and yet so many are unaware of these practices or worse, victim blame the adult refugees (I use the term refugees because most are fleeing war --which the US are complicit in-- and violence and threats of death; they are most often not just economic immigrants as the propaganda states) for bringing their children into the country illegally. Fear and racism, and willful ignorance protect many from confronting these horrors perpetrated by our own government.
MARCH 2020: COVID-19... in April 2020, during the shelter at home orders, I have started drawings of children in precarious situations, now also affected by the Corona Virus. This series of Suffer the little children portraits, as well as the sculptures has grown over the years to include all children in precarious situations, and the current pandemic is a horror that touches all. From the children in Detroit who were already experiencing precocity with water shutoffs, homelessness, violence, no health care, etc... to the Children in war-torn countries and refugee camps, the virus does not discriminate.
These portraits are the faces of those who are suffering; if we as a people have any empathy and morality left, these are the faces we must not turn away from. We must acknowledge and remember this suffering and demand that our country stops participating in these wars, killing thousands of innocent civilians. We need to take responsibility for those being mistreated on our own borders and demand (vote out) that this treatment stops. We need to demand an end to these (and all) wars.
This ongoing series which now includes sculpture and installation work, confronts the viewers with the faces of those who suffer. “Suffer the little Children: Drowned” is a lifejacket like the tens of thousands being used by refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea in search of refuge in Europe. The images within this piece are of children who have drowned in this journey, the few exceptions to my focus on living children. “Suffer the little children--Border Crossing: Caged” depicts a refugee child on our own border, in a dog kennel. The faceless child is the “face” of all the children who are housed within large, fenced pens
and tents, with only have the mylar emergency blanket for “comfort” and warmth.
The wars in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq continue, as well as the apartheid in Israel oppressing and killing Palestinian people, many of whom are children and teens, and all the people suffer. Many have fled the wars and yet continue to suffer in different ways in refugee camps across the Middle East and Europe. This is a crisis that we in the United States can easily choose to ignore because it is a world away, but our country is complicit, as are we if we turn a blind eye to such suffering of others. What makes this worse is the fear mongering of our own government against Muslims (so we don't say anything as they bomb and kill innocent men, women, and children) and the rampant fear and hatred of Muslims in the name of "security." There is also our own country that is complicit in the bombing of Syrian civilians and the support of the Saudi and Assad attacks on the Syrian people.
In 2018 it came to light that our own government has been separating children from their parents at our own southern border, and imprisoning them for illegal lengths of time in horrible conditions. These children range from infants and toddlers to teens. They were being put in cages with cement floors and only given a mylar emergency blanket for bedding (and documented neglect, sexual abuse, and physical abuse is common in these contracted “housing” facilities). There has been several court rulings now that forbids the separation of children from their families, but now the whole families are being detained in such facilities. 6 children in 6 months have died in custody; 5 in 3 months.
Now that the atrocities of our own government, on our own soil was revealed, it is much harder to ignore, and yet so many are unaware of these practices or worse, victim blame the adult refugees (I use the term refugees because most are fleeing war --which the US are complicit in-- and violence and threats of death; they are most often not just economic immigrants as the propaganda states) for bringing their children into the country illegally. Fear and racism, and willful ignorance protect many from confronting these horrors perpetrated by our own government.
MARCH 2020: COVID-19... in April 2020, during the shelter at home orders, I have started drawings of children in precarious situations, now also affected by the Corona Virus. This series of Suffer the little children portraits, as well as the sculptures has grown over the years to include all children in precarious situations, and the current pandemic is a horror that touches all. From the children in Detroit who were already experiencing precocity with water shutoffs, homelessness, violence, no health care, etc... to the Children in war-torn countries and refugee camps, the virus does not discriminate.
These portraits are the faces of those who are suffering; if we as a people have any empathy and morality left, these are the faces we must not turn away from. We must acknowledge and remember this suffering and demand that our country stops participating in these wars, killing thousands of innocent civilians. We need to take responsibility for those being mistreated on our own borders and demand (vote out) that this treatment stops. We need to demand an end to these (and all) wars.
This ongoing series which now includes sculpture and installation work, confronts the viewers with the faces of those who suffer. “Suffer the little Children: Drowned” is a lifejacket like the tens of thousands being used by refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea in search of refuge in Europe. The images within this piece are of children who have drowned in this journey, the few exceptions to my focus on living children. “Suffer the little children--Border Crossing: Caged” depicts a refugee child on our own border, in a dog kennel. The faceless child is the “face” of all the children who are housed within large, fenced pens
and tents, with only have the mylar emergency blanket for “comfort” and warmth.