Wednesday 30 October 2013

New Woodcut

The latest woodcut 'Together', is finally finished. I ended up with an edition of 9 prints. The four colours are all different mixes of French Ultramarine, Poppy Red, Golden Yellow and Opaque White.



The text emerging from the colour fields was originally intended as an expression of impotent rage against a government that is imposing savage spending cuts in the name of austerity which impact disproportionately on women and on the poorest people in our (UK) society. The infamous claim by millionaire Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was that 'we are all in this together'. He didn't say 'this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me' but he could have done! 

However there is another, deeper, meaning in the text, away from cheap political point-scoring and thinking more holistically about us as a species on the planet: as the human race. There is a real sense in which recognising our shared responsibilities toward each other, our common humanity and interdependence is a prerequisite for a politics that might see human beings survive, in freedom, in the long term. My view of human beings is a high one, and my life and politics are informed by the conviction that all people are important, that human rights are universal, and that we really are 'all in this together'.

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