This is a tribute to the Portland, Oregon woman who confronted “federal troops” during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. While some chose rocks and bottles to challenge authorities, she wore her nakedness as a mask of courage to confront the federal troops.
I rendered her in a rainbow palette. From my perspective, we are all people of colors – many colors. We cannot limit people by the color of the skin they are born into. Skin color is not our choice. We can, however, elevate ourselves by through the colors of our character. We have the option to accept many colors into our lives. That is our choice for how we relate and function within our communities.
This sculpture is both a figure and a mask. The nature of a mask is twofold. It can disguise the wearer to conceal her/his identify. Or, it can amplify an archetypal quality. The Mask of Athena is a reminder that we can choose to confront injustice and absurd abuse of power. It doesn’t take a shield or a sword or rocks and bottles. It just takes the courage to expose the naked truth.