Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Self-Portrait Challenge 03.04

My brain cries out to stop the images that we see on a daily basis. Working for the news, I have seen some terrible things that no human should ever endure, that other humans should never experience and the rest of us should never see. I cry alot in my job from images that burned into my brain and will never leave. Stories that I will never forget. Stories that find me crying and screaming in my car, so when I get home, I can put it all behind me for the moment and feel like a normal human being. The mental image of that girl in Florida that was buried alive in a black garbage plastic bag with her favorite bear, after being raped and tortured by some lunatic made me SCREAM to myself in my car on the home. Children killed, starved, raped, made orphans, maimed and tortured worldwide. Soldiers killed, beheaded before cameras, losing arm, legs, lives. Children losing parents. Starving children in Darfur. The images go on and on and on ... and my brain screams out STOP! NO MORE. There has got to be a way for us to inhabit this world in peace, where all humankind can care for their children, protect their children, feed their children. And we can all respect each other views, lives, religions. Self Portrait Challenge ask us to look at our political opinions. My opinion is ... let's take care of each other. Live in peace. Respect each other and care for our children's future here on this fragile earth. (Other images borrowed from different sites).

8 comments:

Vanessa said...

this is powerful and brilliant.

the image of torture hits hardest... because, instead of moving away from it, civilised society is trying to legitimise it. and the horrifying thing is that censorship and media manipulation means that we only get to see a (twisted) fraction of the truth.

LLW said...

Wow, that is a very powerful image!

It really brings emotion, and makes everything seem so much closer to home, when you see such strong images. Nicely told through your collage.

dee said...

What a moving entry Kim. It must be hard to shake those images.

Jeremy Stockwell said...

I think it's a good thing that you're still affected by these images, Kim. I would think that working for the news, it would be easy to become jaded.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, been there. Back wrote freelance articles about some of the most horrific things people do to one another. I had to stop. It was like a repetitive record spinning in my head. Now I garden. Stay home with my pet babies (real ones are grown) and raise pretty flowers and try not to remember the stuff.
Brenda

Anonymous said...

wow thats a very strong emotional collage

hollibobolli said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hollibobolli said...

I'm just deleting my comment - it's full of typos and mistakes and it's just not helpful.

I was going to correct it, but I don't see the point.

xo