cyclops etching & other political/social observations
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A political/social critique is to be initially critiqued through the mythological figure of the cyclops which represents a narrow human view which is usually intolerant and leads to much inhumanity. Other mythological 'visual metaphors' will also come to the fore ( the minotaur comes to mind...). Many more images are intended. Thank you.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Please press on the square thumbnails to view the whole images.
'Aeneas escapes from the Cyclops.' B&W. 8" X 6" sugarlift. aquatint. zinc plate.
‘Australian Cyclops with refugee. (Nauru/Manus).’ 5" x 13" sepia. sugar lift. aquatint. zinc plate.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'THE REFUGEES'.
19cm X 14.5cm sepia. aquatint. zinc plate
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
1. AENEAS ESCAPES FROM THE CYCLOPS. 2 CYCLOPS with victim. Further information including once more the dimensions and other information:
'Aeneas escapes from the Cyclops.' B&W. 8" X 6" sugarlift. aquatint. zinc plate.
In Virgil's Aeneid there is a
threatening scene where on a Sicilian shore a row of hostile cyclops sought to
do harm to Aeneas and the Trojans with him who - as refugees - were seeking to
found a new city after the Sack of Troy by the Hellenes. We view the many cyclops
from Aeneas’s point-of-view as his ship desperately draws away from the
shoreline. I was struck by this small passage which seemed to resonate so well
with today's irrational 'one-eyed' xenophobia and racism; especially in
Australia.
It is also disconcerting how the EU is entertaining the inhumane idea of adopting
Australia's harsh border protection' policies due to increasing numbers of refugees seeking
refuge in Europe. One is also aware of the irrational 'one-eyed' policies of a U.S. administration that is becoming ever
more hostile towards migration & asylumseekers; thus this image maybe seen
as a ‘modernist’ universal image that reflects a universal human cruelty which needs to be
strongly countenanced against
2. ‘AUSTRALIAN CYCLOPS. Nauru’. 5" x
13" sepia. sugar lift. aquatint. zinc plate.
Originally titled Australian Cyclops at Nauru* I still would like to hope to allow this image to
have a wider interpretation. Cyclops who has a victim of which is about to be rushed and devoured can now also refer to Polyphemus in the Odyssey who attacked, captured and
devoured Odysseus's men who were also refugees of sorts (the open space below the
cyclops can be viewed as a cave as well as a Nauru tent).**
Cyclops can still refer to Goya's Saturn
Devouring His Children as we can sight a person in this one-eyed giant’s clutches. At first sight one can consider this a benign image until one realizes the full horror of what is actually happening; much like a behind the scenes bureaucracy that has put in place a unyielding process that slowly, incrementally, grinds down the human souls trapped in offshore detention in a state of merciless, limbo imprisonment that tears away at their very sense of being. This human
being will be mercilessly devoured by this impersonal creature. One may wish to
consider how in the broadest sense the cyclops is associated with a narrow,
inflexible, irrational dehumanizing 'one point of view ' that - often negative
and without compassion - devours not only human reason but also human
imagination.
*The original intention of metaphorically portraying an inhuman
situation on Nauru is still a major motivation for this image and below is what
I original wrote:
What maybe considered a somewhat benign image akin to a child's drawing
actually becomes an image of dread when one finally realizes it references a
malignant inhumane situation on Nauru where thousands of already recognized
asylum seekers continue to suffer a hellish limbo as the Australian government
continues to refuse to give them entry into Australia as it is obligated to do
under the International Refugee Convention of which it is a signatory. Both
major parties prefer to cowardly pander to a racist, xenophobic marginal
section of the Australian population who can acutely influence their hold on
power at each upcoming general election; a disgusting, vile situation which
belies the insidious moral corruption of a nation. Yes, morality and ethics
mean absolutely nothing when it comes to aspiring after power at all costs. It
is an obscene state of affairs in a so called democratic country and it is apt
that there is an international feeling that what is occurring in offshore
detention on Nauru and Manus is a crime against humanity. Human beings are slowly
dying in both mind and body; a 'living death' for many who are suffering
needlessly. Many refugees sadly now have medical symptoms akin to PTSD (post
traumatic stress disorder). This simple image references Goya's Saturn
devouring his children which is a horrific image of a crazed bestial giant
devouring a human being. What is referred to here is not so much an overtly
dramatic situation but rather to the 'bureaucratic banality of evil' whereby
far away decisions in Canberra in air-conditioned offices, out of the public
eye and away from any political transparency, incrementally and slowly lead to
an ongoing policy of callous barbarism which is akin to having human beings
sacrificed to fuel an inhuman, almost unfeeling psychopathic cyclops's immature,
cancerous hold on power (a slow death indeed). Thus, here through one's human
imagination by relying on human symbol to express an inhuman reality one can
witness this Australian Cyclops towering over an empty Nauru refugee tent with
a refugee figure who is in it about to be swallowed by this inhumane giant. In
regards to human perception I have decided to rely on the human imagination
rather than on human vision to portray this horrific scenario propped up by a
political cynicism that vilely undermines every profound, humane sense of human
rights that have emerged since the Enlightenment.
**One may also wish to consider the notion of the revolution which eats
its children as well as war continually being a cyclops eating its victims and
so forth. One also thinks of the giant Bosch bird eating a soul in Hell. I also
acknowledge the English artist Ian Fairweather who is also considered an
Australian artist who spent many years in Australia. He is famed for his
outline figures which reference Chinese calligraphy. (I have been told the head
of the cyclops can remind one of Aboriginal iconography but this is actually
not the case as Aboriginal art was never referenced.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
3. REFUGEES.
19cm X 14.5cm sepia. aquatint. zinc plate
A thorough write up still needs to be included for this etching but suffice to say it is a meditation on the mental suffering that refugees have to endure: firstly, from the hardship of escaping from where they face death and secondly, from the hardship they must endure when their action to escape from certain death is only met with resentment and hostility from those in safe countries of whom refugees expected to be accepted and understood and treated with dignity and compassion.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________