They Were Here

In Process: Day # 1

The images of a devastated and heartbroken Haiti ,flood the internet. They are unavoidable. One image in particular struck me as ironically ,very beautiful. Amid the destruction, a large tent city was erected by the survivors made from salvaged blankets, sheets and fabric. It provided shelter from the sun. It was centralized,organized and evidence of a living community....evidence that despite the worst, life continues and so must the effort to sustain it.The photograph was an aerial view and the suspended fabric of this makeshift roof looked like a hand sewn quilt of colored textile patches. Where there is life, there is beauty.
Tonight I began two images. The larger one with the child, surrounded by pink, is inspired, in part by that fabric tent city. The pinks, reds and blues, in contrast to the grey of the debris, reminded me of wildflowers, blossoming alongside an urban highway...beauty where and when you least expect it.
Lives senselessly lost, are dreams lost.The images, the media coverage, the art, the global outcry acknowledge that these lives mattered...they were here.
I Was Here