The first depicts an aerial view of New Orleans, after the flood. Collaged under the oil painting are black and white photographic images of the destruction. It is entitled Into the waters they go, the wise and the lovely, after an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, Dirge Without Music. See NYTimes article that inspired this title.
The next two paintings are part of an ongoing series of large-scale works depicting historically/politically weighted cities, superimposed on one another on the same picture plane. I have cut into these canvases to stuff and sew sheer pockets of fabric with seeds and other organic forms, as a way of marking significant points on these maps where the course of history has changed. Locations I have marked within Seeds of Empire (Rome/D.C.) include the US Capitol Building, the White House, the Forum and the Coliseum. Locations in He turned their waters into blood (Tigris/Mississippi) include the Iraqi National Museum, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, the Superdome and the Lower Ninth Ward. See painting/map key here.
