The intention of my work is to introduce a discourse with the viewer concerning the dehumanization of East African child soldiers. Human rights, race and war are issues that are inherently imbedded in the imagery. I am intensely drawn to this subject matter because I feel the conscription of children as killers is a perversion of society. When I originally started work on the project I planned to make the paintings as realistic as possible to humanize armed East Africans. However, this proved problematic as my instructor Zin Lim, suggested, "You are romanticizing the figure, which does not fit your intention." I have been exploring new ways of depicting the figure, which creates the tension, conflict and horror of being a child soldier. The work of Jenny Saville, Francis Bacon and Alex Kanevsky have influenced my work because they create strong emotional effects by abstracting parts of figure. I work in layers and incorporate techniques of masking, scumbling, dripping, glazing and scraping. Towards the end of the painting process I start to add representational detail in select areas to juxtapose the abrupt difference of realism and abstraction. The representational elements convey the human aspects of the sitter, while the abstract elements symbolize the dehumanization of the figure.

Honors

Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship in Fine Arts, sponsored by the San Francisco Foundation

Resources

www.irinnews.org

(Photos references for works used with permission from IRIN, a humanitarian news and analysis organization.)

www.invisiblechildren.com

‘A long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier’ by Ishmael Beah

'What is the What' by Dave Eggers

'The Poisonwood Bible' by Barbara Kingsolver