The Weight of My Skin

The two studies, Knock at the Door, and Mommy went gardening this morning, along with the developed version of Knock at the Door, are collectively called: The Weight of my Skin.  They are based on childhood memories of events Laurie experienced growing up in an often violent and fearful Apartheid South Africa.

Paintings that raise questions are just as powerful as those that answer them. These works highlight issues of race, victimhood, and justice. They challenge how we make a stand for/against political systems and ask if such a stand should ever be made at the cost of innocence, at the cost of childhood, at the cost of committing a crime. In a land far away from South Africa, these paintings raise the question: Do we ever have the right to assume that we fully understand the political challenges of another country?