Roman goddess Libertas; the personification of liberty and personal freedom
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter - movement and protests that swept the world in 2020 after George Floyd was murdered by a policeman in Michigan, USA.
Organically the mother and child concept I was riffing on became goddess Libertas.
Lady Liberty, the iconic statue greeting newcomers to the USA in New York, representing Western values like personal freedom and the pursuit of happiness of immigrants, is a better known depiction of Libertas.
This painting was formed as the news and situation unfolded.
That is how the element of time becomes captured in a painting.
In the process of creating the image, societal contradictions float to the visible quickly;
Western values like personal freedom do not seem to apply to everyone equally, and despite the abolishing of slavery more than 100 years ago, we still see inequality and racism on a visceral level.
Libertas was used in Roman times in the ritual of freeing slaves, this was done ‘by the rod’ (‘vindictus’). Sadly this ritual was often indistinguishable from a ‘mock trial’, an ornamental ceremony with no true meaning.
This mock freeing of slaves is relevant until today, when the question resonates louder than ever:
have they ever really been set free? Or are our Western symbols no more than ornamental lip service making a mockery of what they stand for?
The money and the toy soldier held by the child also tells us something about what keeps the cycle going.
Money and warfare are obsessions in our society, and they also have the strongest lobbies to pull societal strings.
Even beyond racial lines, these are a direct obstacle to true liberation.