LOVE•FREEDOM•VOTE

I spent most of my lead time for this exhibit thinking about one idea or action that defines the future of America. That action is VOTING. Using a derivation of Robert Indiana’s famous LOVE poster and sculpture, I created VOTE in neon. Voting is how we keep our democracy relevant and protect it from being used to promote xenophobia, climate denying, inequality of wealth and health. America stands for freedom and opportunity. We must constantly redefine our ideals: To VOTE is to LOVE AMERICA.

This is a time of enormous change. Four major catalysts have put us in a state of almost complete uncertainty: Climate Crisis; the current US administration’s style of high-level entropy governing; Covid-19 pandemic and systemic racism leading to long overdue social upheaval. We are now in an epidemic of cascading, catastrophic entropy.

We are desperate in this country to repair many of the ills of the past. Climate change is demanding honesty and humility from us. We cannot continue our delusional vision of ourselves and our world. The pandemic is a result of our assault on the earth.

The efforts of the suffragists from 100 years ago strongly influence our country in 2020. This history is jammed with political, historical and social truths and lies. I am pondering how civilization has both progressed over the last 150 years since the first woman voted in Wyoming but, how little progress we have realized in areas of equality. We are deeply in denial about many important issues.

VOTING IS THE SEED OF DEMOCRACY