2004

Simple Equations

While in London in 2003 I heard a song by the British rock band Madness called “Simple Equation.” Madness sings of “wrong versus right” and “the calculation of good over bad” in a very elementary straightforward way. Nowadays I think about a couple of lines of the lyrics often: “It’s the days that separate the nights; it’s the shadows by which we recognize the light.”

The pieces you see here address the power of opposites – they don’t give answers, they ask questions. They’re each derived from found photographs. They are based on news photos of Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson; they are the two young men who murdered Matthew Sheppard, a gay college student, in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. When I discovered those photos, that’s when the questions began... Are Aaron and Russell my enemy? Would they think that I’m their enemy? Aren’t there those who believe that Aaron and Russell are heroes and that what they did was right? Should I be angry or afraid or can I recognize the light in Aaron and Russell?

These are large oil pastel drawings, 43” x 43”, sometimes paired with printed text. The words aren’t meant to be captions, but they do help tell the story. I want you to have to look at Aaron and Russell’s faces, but I also want you to know what they did.

However I don’t want to return hate with more hate. I believe we each have some of Aaron and Russell in us. Can’t I sometimes be the loving/caring friend who accepts all people and at other times be the ignorant bigot who hates? Can I see Aaron and Rus- sell’s light while acknowledging their darkness? Aren’t they part of my family? Am I not their brother?

I find questions much more important than answers. Don’t you?

Michael A. Pierce, July 2004