A Sacrifice Zone is a geographic area that is being environmentally or economically sacrificed at the behest of industry and is often positioned in low-income communities.

In contrast, I envision a 100% environmentally safe and habitable New Mexico and the consciousness required for a safe and just global climate, that is, a house for living beings. We are moving into an evolved Ecozoic age as we shed the destructive mindset toward the earth.

Yet, as New Mexicans, we are holding in common stories of environmental devastation or of its impending threat, and too often, these histories remain unknown outside of the immediate community.
Compounded by the reality that the Southwest is one of the most threatened regions in the world for drought and wildfire, fracking for oil and gas risks irreversible and permanent contamination of New Mexico’s water sources. It takes 1-8 million gallons of water to complete each fracturing well. Up to 600 chemicals are used in fracking fluids, including known carcinogens and radio-active isotopes. Water used in the process in permanently removed from our publicly shared water reserves.

The text in the bed of the open case was derived from sec. 312 of the Patriot Act 2, which states that limits on intelligence gathering on religious and political activity would be repealed. In evaluating the Patriot’s Act, the Washington National Office of the ACLU concluded: “In late 2001, senior intelligence specialists wrote that the use of racial profiling and other investigative techniques that intrude on civil liberties could undermine security by distracting security officials from less clumsy and more reliable individual suspicion.”

 

Many American policy makers with the power to sway public opinion, have produced or voted for policies that are in fact precisely the kind of policies carried out by the Soviet Block, which we had so passionately disputed just a few decades ago during the long and arduous Cold War.

Miscellaneous was largely inspired by the famous quotation by Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler who spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

I trust the sum representation of nations listed can create a momentary hold on the cultural amnesia that occurs in myth building. If we remembered every intervention, perhaps we would no longer accept as the norm military spending and weapons manufacturers.

During the decade long embargo against Iraq, 500,000 children lost their lives to malnourishment and disease. The world was barely informed of this atrocity. Policies often push to the limit America’s economic rivals and ideological opponents. The swing seat is scorched and the beautiful decorative detail references arabesque mofits of mosques. The word “push” is lowercase to call attention to the fact that a push of any force may return a larger swinging arc in response.

Ahni Rocheleau Statement on Giant Handkerchief 

 

The toddler in this parody of Time Magazine, Andrew Golden, at age 11 in 1998 shot several classmates in Jonesboro, North Carolina. According to Time [magazine] “Neighbors had reluctantly grown used to the sight of Drew biking in military fatigues . . . always wearing camouflage clothing and talking about hunting and shooting targets. . . Santa gave Drew a shotgun when he was six.”

In the pinwheel-flower images, the implication of the media in mediating our thought processes for us is fundamental to a collective inability to articulate the root causes of a warrior culture. Drew himself is not only a perpetrator, but also an unfortunate victim. Like many he is at his young preteen age caught up in the facile acceptance that there are enemies, rather than, real people, in his psychologically loaded dualistic world.

The span of white cloth within which the pinwheels float, like blank space, presents the very meaninglessness of the boy’s existence. He clasps the gun close to his chest, and his image in the petal of the pinwheel is cut off, visually not whole, nor is it whole because of his tender age. Andrew Golden embodies how the militarization of humankind can turn individuals into psychopaths and sociopaths.

This work challenges the acceptance of the institution of war and our personal responsibility in generating it and complying with it. In Western European society, we perceived military culture primarily as a male generated device, at least until a few years ago, and we participate in supporting a hero and victory industry. Yet, children are most often raised through the contribution of both male and female parents. The TV, film, toy, and gaming industries in homes where parents are too busy, becomes the surrogate parent. Perhaps this Giant Handkerchief artwork leads us to ask questions: Who manufactured and sold this attire? Who dressed this boy? Who bought the gun? and, Why?

I chose to use sewing to assemble this piece due to its historic and conventional association with female work. Needle and thread is also understood as a means to repairing and healing. This ‘feminine’ piece becomes ironical when considering the largely overlooked role of women within the realm of the war culture. With notions of conventional beauty, the span of pure cotton, the intricate Spanish lace, and the pinwheel flowers with the image of Andrew Golden, I use the strategy of seduction to lure the viewer. How do we grapple with the contradictions contained in voiced opposition to violence, and the simultaneously willingness to perpetuate warrior culture?

What do we carry inside of us when our country is bombing?
Do we think of those who we bomb? Do we see them?
Do we hear those who are trying to live under embargo, asking for medicines?
Do we ever put ourselves in their shoes?

In Karbala, fluorescent lights and mosaic and mirrors reflect the gold and silver decorated shrine of Imam Husayn, the grandson of the prophet Mohammed. The pilgrims are of the Shia sect, who split with Orthodox Sunni Islam more than a thousand years ago.

Overhead-rows of bed sheets with drawings of warplanes; below each sheet-a dining table 4 inches from the ground dressed with a white linen cloth.