GUNS

resistance

Several years ago my sister gifted me a newspaper from the date of my birth 28th of October 1960. The front page carried a story of climate emergency in the UK  “a once in a lifetime” flooding event was hitting the south of England with disastrous consequences. Reading further into the paper I was struck by how far we’ve seem to have come in the last sixty years towards a more tolerant society. The 1960s were a time when overt racism and sexism were evident in the adverts of the age and the general journalistic tone. Thankfully things have changed considerably, although most will admit that we still have further to go. The old faded newspaper included stories of warfare around the world. There seemed to be scores of wars about the globe at the time. Some things have not changed in our polarised world.

Fast forward to today and according to the Robert Gebeloff in New York Times, guns have overtaken disease and car accidents as the leading cause of death to children in the USA. I’m shocked every time I hear of a mass shooting event in the news. The propensity of weapons is at the core of this tragedy. I asked ChatGPT some questions, the kind that computers seem to be best at.

How many guns in circulation in the USA?  The most conservative figure is nearly 400 million. It takes me one second to draw a gun symbol. It will take me about fifty five and a half years to draw all the guns in circulation now. Of course the gun epidemic in the USA is a complex multifaceted phenomena both cultural and political. Science and maths confirm that the sheer volume of weapons is a core challenge for Americans. We are all connected and problems around the world are our problems too. The gun has been part of the cultural zeitgeist since Hollywood gave the lone ranger a pistol. A symbol of fear and freedom, a power totem, resistance. 

These art works are an attempt to  help me process the darker side of the world we share and my own search for understanding.