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American Dream

17 compositions of resistance

Marked in ink and 18k gold, 10.5" x 14"

A series made to raise funds to support immigrant families separated from each other at the southern border of the United States. These original compositions are gifts to donors of $50 or more. Donations should be made to ActBlue (click for link) and scroll to end of page for more information.

The pages are selected from a 125 year old salvaged copy of Art and Artists of all Nations, brought to contemporary contexts and reimagined. The poetry is from the texts originally accompanying the canon of reproductions.

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Dark-skinned, black-eyed, barefooted
Early maturity
Face to face with the hardships of life
The sadness of it all is forced upon us
This child should be playing with other children
When she emigrates to America we shall see her trudging through the streets, stunted in growth by her toilful life

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Life has been so sorrowful
The spirit of the sufferers have been ever crying out
The faces of the children calling for their parents
Murmur of the soul appealing to the power

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Two girls
Making their way through danger to safety
They have been waylaid on either hand
By enemies
By admirers who are sufficiently ardent
Trying to appear unconscious of the risk to which they have exposed themselves
Both have been smitten with the beauty of the girls, and are anxious to receive some recognition of their attentions

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An act of humanity
Paid dearly for his sacrifice of discipline to humanity
Even the rights of the people were ruthlessly sacrificed
A graver offence for this kind-hearted cavalryman than it would have been to have ridden over the boy

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Immediately arrested, transferred to the nearest prison, tried the following morning
Sentenced to death, and guillotined the evening of the same day
Through the hearts of her executioners
There is no sign of remorse, no regret, except perhaps over the seeming necessity of the act

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In the face and gesture of the mother
A world of love and tenderness
Half fearful, half courageous eyes of the little one
The great world is opening
The human heart

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The story of human wounds has scarcely ever been more graphically or pathetically told
The story is familiar to everyone
Subject to cruelty and neglect, all that was good and generous would have been committed or out of his young heart
Fatigue nearly wore out his childish body
An unutterable sense of loneliness
The little traveler, worn
Foot-sore, limping along
Thin and wasted
Hunger and pain

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The young mother has her first baby in her lap, and is looking into his face with that indescribable expression of tenderness and devotion
Youngster is beginning to discover what sort of a world he lives in
Has he himself to blame?

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Charity
The real sentiment
In her they will find the refuge and sustenance they require
One who hungers is fed, one who is frightened is protected, one who is old enough to sympathize

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The cloth is clean enough for the table of aristocracy
Bread in the boy's mouth is good enough
He is toothless and almost blind
The shapely girls deserve a better lot than this

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What horrors
The bodily sufferings and forms of death to which they had to submit were more extreme than they have been known in any other country
It is royal sport
Consumed to a black mass of cinder and death

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To watch and wish
The ragged children of the poor are eager for a share in the viands of the rich

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It can hardly be said that the modern man has yet reached the complete fulfillment of the injunction to love his neighbor as himself
In what ways the universal brotherhood may be manifested

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Children are frightened
The shadow of a human being
They have wandered off into some enclosure
Scared, completely out of himself
Just enough of potential rationality left to scream and claw
He is badly frightened
He clings to the wall
His courage has suffered a severe shock
No opportunity to run away

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Watching and waiting
Remains to be gathered
The little ones have been left
Set to watch and wait
Waiting is long to the child-heart
The little folks have grown weary
The hours have seemed to know no end
They are both tired
She waits until papa and mama shall come

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Despairing sob
The abandon of grief
Young and pretty
Care-worn and sad
Misery and death
Young and inexperienced
Her delicate being
She was pure and innocent
Soon after she realized the horror of her situation
A burst of mother-love, she suffocated her child

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The situation is very real

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