Headlines

About “Headlines”

My father always told me to keep my political feelings and thoughts to myself. “Nothing can be gained from talking to people about heated issues. Only arguments and disagreements.” I guess I disagree with that. Yes, talking about polarizing issues is difficult and often unpleasant; Yes, it is not often opinions change from just one discussion. But I don’t think not talking about things is 1) Healthy or 2) A bad idea. Change won’t ever come from silence.

Headlines is a series of collages made after internal dialogues are too much to bare alone. It is a series that confronts social, economical, and political events from current politics. It’s based in things I read, overhear, watch, and listen to. It is also based on conversations I have with others who agree and disagree with my view point. Political discussions seem to linger with me longer than I would like. It’s when I get that gnawing feeling, the one my

father warned me about, that my only recourse is to make something. Honestly, for me, the hardest part about this series is when it’s done - Sharing is like having those open conversations I was warned against having. Ironically, many of the finished pieces I have used to express myself can be interpreted in different ways. Although I see my clear intention and “what side I stand on” for, say, immigration or climate change, my interpretations have been interpreted by other people for and against each issue. That in itself is an interesting commentary on political discussions, on futility, progress, and the long, ever winding road of change.