“I will no longer remain silent”
After several years of grumbling around our dining room table about the war in Iraq: complaining about the lost lives, the erosion of our country’s reputation and the huge financial expense. I decided to speak up and do something visual and something personal, taping into my anger, my rage, my feelings about this war that was created by George Bush, based on lies and deception. I’ve always felt there has to be a better way to settle conflict in the world. The final straw was when the New York Times printed its third folio of thumbnail photos of the American troops killed in the war, each folio with the name and hometown of the soldier. Carefully, I scanned each photo and placed them on the stripes of a large American flag. Then I made a film of the faces dissolving into each other in progression and placed the film on a flat video screen where the flag’s stars would normally be seen.
I installed it all as a large wall hanging that concealed a sound system, which softly played Gorecki’s “Symphony of Sorrow no.3 .” I entered the work in “Art Maui 2008”. Hoping for exposure of my protest. Rejection followed. However, when my wife and her friend Tim Garcia heard of the news we all quickly mobilized and formed a group of “Artists for Peace”, inviting each to create their work of protest thereby forming an exhibition which was held in an abandoned gallery in Makawao. The show ran for a month and included works by 100 Maui artists. It quickly became known as “The miracle of Makawao” and was visited by thousands, including Maya Soetoro-ng, Barak Obama’s sister, Ram Dass and many veterans who had served in Iraq. "I will no longer remain silent" subsequently was chosen for display at the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu as part of their special 20 year anniversary show "20 going on 21". I also received an award from the "United Nations Society of Artists and Writers" partially based on "I will no longer remain silent".
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