Friday, July 13, 2007

Making Meaning - The Art of Eileen Doughty - Post #3



















Patriotic Acting

Click on images for a close-up view

Artist Statement:

We are "fighting a war for democracy over there" but losing our own freedoms back here. Our rights to privacy are in great danger as anyone, anywhere can have their communications, financial records, and home life invaded. Every week it seems another secret government operation is uncovered by our still-free press -- but the Checks and Balances of our Constitution have disappeared in the cloak of the president's wartime powers.

Wake up! The bugs are everywhere!

Notes on the quilting:

The gold text around the broken pyramid are the English translations of the Latin mottoes on the dollar bill:

"He Has Favored Our Undertakings" and "A New Order of the Ages"

The text on the red stripes reads "Wake up" and on the grey stripes reads "Patriotic Acting".

Additional detail views of this piece are available on Eileen’s website:
http://www.doughtydesigns.com/galleries/politics/bugs.php

For more information about Eileen and to see her full range of art:
http://www.doughtydesigns.com

3 comments:

Clairan Ferrono said...

I wish our press were still free -- but I'm afraid it has largely been bought and paid for.

Gwen Magee (Gwendolyn) said...

Unfortunately Clairan, that also seems to be the case with our government as well - sigh!

Anonymous said...

Looking at the big 'historical' picture, the press was even more biased in the past. In George Washington's day, people could write articles under a pseudonym, and newspapers were little more than screeds. There was little 'journalism' as we think of it today. Attacks on politicians and their policies were very nasty from the time of our first president.

So i think we are still getting away from the bad old days. There are shining stars, like Edward R Murrow in the red-baiting 1950s, and Bill Moyers today.

I'd be more concerned about the effect of people getting their 'news' from bloggers (which is a gross generalization, i know), and the decreasing attention span of the population.