Today, I have decided to share another piece of my "Literary Art" with you. You may remember one of my prior entries entitled "11"-Literary Art in which I explained my attempt to use words to illustrate the museum in my brain. "... the beautiful" is one of the first pieces I created. I warn you that this piece is extremely graphic and disturbing. I quite literally felt nauseous as I wrote the following. Inspired by a combination of news stories I read during one news day, I wanted to create a lasting photographic image that could burn into a person's memory, haunting them forever. Orbson Disciples are by now very familiar with the vast respect and love I have for all women. I find it unfortunate that not everyone shares that respect...
Title: …the beautiful
Subject: The treatment of women in the United States of America.
Medium: Photography. Mostly black and white with certain aspects represented with full and strong colors.
Summary:
The scene is a cold, gray alley that could be in any major city. Garbage bags both opened and unopened are strewn about from an overflowing dumpster. Graffiti plagues all of the surfaces. The photograph, while posed, appears completely realistic, as if you could walk directly into that alley and smell that garbage. You see small glimpses of color bursting amongst the mess from the otherwise black and white image. However, your eyes are locked onto the soulless cement ground where a young woman in her early 20’s lies in pain amongst the filth. Her expression is one of complete anguish and her face is wet with a mixture of blood and tears. Her clothes have been torn away revealing deep bruises over her body, covered in a mixture of dirt and violently red blood. The bruising extends to her thighs. You know what has happened. She is grasping a small, torn and filthy American flag in her hands. She is trying to use it to cover herself. She pulls and grasps as if it could provide protection, but it is too small.
You need to look away from the horrific image of the young woman and notice again the small bursts of color. A few feet away from the woman you see a Fortune 500 magazine cover with the “Richest Fifteen People in America”, only two of which are women. Covered partially by the dumpster there is an old broken street sign with only the number “80” visible. This represents the fact that even today, women make only 80% of what a man makes in the same job. Amongst the garbage hanging loosely from the dumpster you see a partially torn Victoria’s Secret poster which someone drew a penis upon. You look closer at the garbage upon the ground and note that the bags seem to form the number “6”. In the U.S.A. a woman is raped every 6 seconds. Upon the opposite wall from the dumpster you see a spray painted “15”. In the U.S.A. a woman is battered every 15 seconds. Every bit of color in the photograph represents the treatment of women. You notice that the only colors used were red, white and blue. You feel nauseous as you gaze again at the fragile and distressed young woman. You see the red, white and blue again in the American Flag. That American flag that does not cover, does not protect and does not heal.
Title: …the beautiful
Subject: The treatment of women in the United States of America.
Medium: Photography. Mostly black and white with certain aspects represented with full and strong colors.
Summary:
The scene is a cold, gray alley that could be in any major city. Garbage bags both opened and unopened are strewn about from an overflowing dumpster. Graffiti plagues all of the surfaces. The photograph, while posed, appears completely realistic, as if you could walk directly into that alley and smell that garbage. You see small glimpses of color bursting amongst the mess from the otherwise black and white image. However, your eyes are locked onto the soulless cement ground where a young woman in her early 20’s lies in pain amongst the filth. Her expression is one of complete anguish and her face is wet with a mixture of blood and tears. Her clothes have been torn away revealing deep bruises over her body, covered in a mixture of dirt and violently red blood. The bruising extends to her thighs. You know what has happened. She is grasping a small, torn and filthy American flag in her hands. She is trying to use it to cover herself. She pulls and grasps as if it could provide protection, but it is too small.
You need to look away from the horrific image of the young woman and notice again the small bursts of color. A few feet away from the woman you see a Fortune 500 magazine cover with the “Richest Fifteen People in America”, only two of which are women. Covered partially by the dumpster there is an old broken street sign with only the number “80” visible. This represents the fact that even today, women make only 80% of what a man makes in the same job. Amongst the garbage hanging loosely from the dumpster you see a partially torn Victoria’s Secret poster which someone drew a penis upon. You look closer at the garbage upon the ground and note that the bags seem to form the number “6”. In the U.S.A. a woman is raped every 6 seconds. Upon the opposite wall from the dumpster you see a spray painted “15”. In the U.S.A. a woman is battered every 15 seconds. Every bit of color in the photograph represents the treatment of women. You notice that the only colors used were red, white and blue. You feel nauseous as you gaze again at the fragile and distressed young woman. You see the red, white and blue again in the American Flag. That American flag that does not cover, does not protect and does not heal.
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