Green Pears - 2025 04 09
Three pears on a window sill.
The news from the United States is terrible today. It is deeply distressing to see men and women kidnapped of the street by masked men in unmarked vehicles. Later we learn these people are being detained by US government in unlawful concentration camps. Still later we learn some of them have been shipped to a giant prison complex in El Salvador. The El Salvador prison is being paid $6 million a year to hold US prisoners. And then we hear that the only way out of this El Salvadorian prison is death.
I am alone in my room making a drawing of pears. I am processing the horror of the unfolding collapse of civil society in the United States. I am trying to make sense of what is happening. I am processing what is happening and what it means for me and my family.
The news from the United States is terrible today. It is deeply distressing to learn that women are being left to die from complications of pregnancy because doctors will not treat them. There are new abortion laws in many states that make it a crime to save a woman's life at the expense of an non-viable fetus. Women suffering from spontaneous miscarriage are being charged with murder. Children who are pregnant from rape and/or incest are being forced to give birth against their will.
The drawing is on mylar. This is a translucent plastic material, similar to vellum. Traditionally it is used in design processes, where you want to be able to make multi-layered drawings that overlay, one on top of the other. In this case, the mylar lets light through. The colour of the underlying surface shows through the drawing, giving an overall colour to the drawing. In this picture, the underlying surface is white, giving the highest light values where there is no colour.
The news from the United States is terrible today. It is deeply distressing to learn that the results of the 2024 election were likely tampered with in favour of F-47. The patterns of vote counting and the distribution of votes, show an unlikely graph that can only be explained by data manipulation. There is no scenario where these patterns and distributions and results would occur 'in the wild'.
The drawing is constructed in shades of blue, green and yellow. These are three colours that sit side by side on the colour wheel. They are the colours of blue sky, green growth and the warmth of the sun. They are colours of nature. They are colours signifying life.
How do we make sense of these changes in our government and in our understanding of humanity? How do we strengthen ourselves from the daily barrage of 'shock and awe' tactics that leave us terrified, then numb, then depressed?
The three pears are positioned on a window sill. Their bulbous bodies lean toward and away from each other, giving a sense of movement, even though the pears themselves are stationary.
First, we understand that we are not alone. That humanity has gone through catastrophic changes in the past, some generated from nature, some generated from an evolving, imperfect human nature.
The pears convey as sense of relationship amongst the three pieces of fruit. The pear stems give a sense of animation for each pear, a feeling they are looking toward something, they are reaching toward something, they are directionally inclined.
Second, we understand that we are imperfect. For four million years we are life forms that have been adapting and evolving to changes in our environment (Dissanayake, 1995). We have managed to survive and prevail despite intrinsic instincts that lead to self-destructive behaviours.
These three pears are inclined toward each other, two of the pears seem to be more intensely involved with each other, the third is slightly out of the core interaction, but feels like it is leaning in to join the other two.
Third, we are a combination of nature and nurture. We have the agency to change how we respond to emergent conditions. It is our capacity and capability to change that can give us hope today.
The pears are near the window pane. Morning light is flooding through the window pane, bathing the pears in sunlight and casting their shadows onto the window sill. The sunlight highlights the shape of the round, shapely pear bodies and gives definition to the expressive gestures of the pear stems.
This is where we focus on nurturing our creative works to transcend the base human nature that is allowing anti-social, antithetical behaviours to abuse power. We have everything we need to change the course of human history. We have been given the capacity and capability to make and share our creative works: music, drawing, painting, dance, creative writing, philosophy, etc. It is through our creative works that we will reform, re-group, and re-structure socialy systems that prioritize caring, equality and justice.
In this scene, the two pears closest to the window are turned away from it. Two of the pears are giving their attention to the other pear. The single pear on the right is emanating great energy toward the other two pears, drawing them together, as if to impart important information.
The pears are drawing together.
Dissanayake, E. (1995). What is art for? (3. print). Univ. of Washington Pr.
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