The Unseen

They are all over the world.  The invisible, the mistreated, the hurting, and the lost of the world.  They might be the social misfit in high school, or the young girl caught in the horrendous grip of sex trafficking, or those martyred for their faith.   They might even be the outwardly successful, but inwardly despairing, neighbor next door.  They are THE UNSEEN.  They are noticed, but I’d rather not gaze too long at the unpleasant things of the world.  I am a bit like the ostrich, hoping that if I don’t see it, it does not really exist.  So, I don’t look too hard at the starving, the impoverished, the diseased, the helpless.  Perhaps I am afraid if I look too carefully I might “catch” their vulnerability.  Maybe their stigma and plight will rub off on me.  Or, maybe, it is that l will be held to account to DO something about what I see.

This is an almost monochromatic acrylic painted on a 20 x 34 inch wood panel that already had city names on it.  I gave it a wash in creamy white to allow the names to show through, then used a minimum of paint for the face, giving the impression of looking right through her.