Helpless Outrage

The Ukraine Invasion and other conflicts

This week’s news has been dominated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Like everyone else in the West I feel this strong emotional reaction to the headlines and the aggression that underlies the situation. I feel helpless that there are few or no levers that I can pull to affect the situation. I feel like a witness or bystander to a terrible tragedy playing out on the world’s stage. I feel outrage that peace is secondary to idealogy and political power.

I have lived a long time. When I was born in 1945, the world was still in the midst of World War II, and atom bombs were falling on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The terrible costs to human life and the worldwide destruction shocked humankind. There was a strong belief for “no more war”.

Why has that sentiment been forgotten?

It seems the world has been battered by tremendous new unforeseen problems- like COVID, and climate change. These problems are immensely difficult to understand and to solve. We are looking for simple answers to complex questions. It becomes easier to blame someone or something for the problem. Like the 1930’s conspiracies suggest a scapegoat and we the public become increasingly polarized and opinionated as to the cause of our discomfort.

Intermal Strife

I can feel this desire to solve the COVID situation by blaming someone (the government restrictions, the politicians, the Chinese, etc.) In reality no one and everyone is creating our crises. The polarization begins inside of me. My desires for answers conflict with the desire to return to normalicy. How can the world find peace when the turmoil is also roiling inside of me? I have no answer.

Expressing Emotion

I want to pay homage to the old masters who were so able to capture the spectrum of human emotion in their paintings. We can see the turmoil and angst in their figures as they struggle with their situation.

In 2020 I wanted to convey the desperation I was feeling as the COVID pandemic was sweeping the world. The paintings of the old masters inspired me to create a collage of humankind coping with COVID.

I also created a pastel work in cooperation with another artist (Sue Reeves) for the Roepost Project. The work addressed our reaction to the call for help.

These images express some of my reactions to the Ukraine Invasion.