I’ve just finished listening to the audio book Not for Sale today. I downloaded it FREE last week from Christian Audio. Thanks to David Batstone’s ongoing efforts, new abolitionists around the world can now listen to stories from this important book. As an artist, one of my goals is to bring light and beauty into dark places. In this book, there are stories of dozens of people that are doing the same thing in their own way. People standing in the gap, standing against the oppressors, lighting a candle in the dark where they live and often beyond their own countries borders. As I develop an image or a story, it is my connections with the community that inform my work. Whether with filmmaking, visual art or spoken word, I often collaborate with others to create multi-faceted opportunities to engage the viewer and foster an environment for open dialogue. I am compelled to expose the sometimes complex and hidden parts of society through the simple beauty of a moment, revealing those things that are unjust. This can often be a mirror for the viewer to see himself or herself or the greater society, if they choose to look. Though sometimes unsettling, my desire is to show the sacredness of human life and to transform communities through art. I know others feel the same way and we need to join together. I want this site to be a collaboration of sorts. It may be a nexus where my friends and fellow collaborators can dream, conspire and respond to the call. I will be downloading any relevant info I get for activities in my own neighborhood (Southern California) and who knows, maybe something bigger will happen with it someday. Someday I would like to do a new series of paintings with a “Not For Sale” theme with scenes from around the world. Cocoa or coffee field workers, back alley red light girls, night river crossings, karaoke girls singing, rice field workers, a clothing seamstress, and, and, and… scenes from around the slavery world that would put a face on our luxurious western lifestyle. Maybe that series will be next… and a continuation of my current work “The Face of Love” based on the six “I was…” statements of Jesus in Matt 25.
