Arrogance, colored pencil, 2011.

I drew this colored pencil painting after 9/11, but I think it still speaks to a fundamental problem in our society and in the world, as evidenced by the struggle of the Water Protectors at DAPL and the Black Lives Matter movement, and by this horrendous polarizing election. The first world, bloated with smug, narcissistic arrogance and patriarchal contempt, rides atop the the third world, who crawls on her knees and still wears the chain of slavery, while the great and greedy towers of civilization are attacked and fall. Meanwhile, the vegetative power of Mother Earth and her ally, the primal serpent of the Ancient Goddess, rise up from the verdant ground, empowering the downtrodden to survive, endure, shake off their burdens, and stand strong, not just for their rights but for Mother Earth herself that she may stand strong and shake off those forces that would rip open her belly, spill her blood, and poison her life-giving waters.