WISee - September 2008

Written by D2Nott

The expectation associated with a SUR-Name greatly influence ones outlook on life. People that I have known all of my life have similar names or their name can be closely associated with mine. I will either add or subtract from that surname in what I do.

Family is something that cannot be stressed enough in a modern society. It is this that separates me from other people. At the root of many arguments today about what is wrong with society is family or the lack there of family structure. Family has always been there for me, when there was no one else to talk to or seek advice from. So I know of no other kind of interactions between the generations, the reassuring of who I am, who they are and what is to be expected as a member of my family; what I see, if very much focused not sole by my eyes, but made clear and descriptive by those that are active in my life. When I am making a decision on spending money, doing something illegal, and even when I am doing something rewarding; I think of how my decisions will be viewed by my family.

Valerie Maynard pools strength from spiritual and political sources. Metonymic impulses move her to recognize us as our first mothers and first fathers and incites her to combat injustice. Her art centers on the spiritual and rouses the political. This is the Church of the Picket Line. There is salvation in this signifying art of Maynard's, but deliverance sometimes comes with a price too dear for the faint of heart. To stand before Maynard's art is to be riveted before a mirror that will not lie. If you come to it with less than truth, your journey will be like an avalanche of rock and you will be torn limb from limb. But, there is a corresponding reward: the opportunity to remember yourself, and this time, you will not forget your heart, your soul or your mind. Witness the business of moving bodies to action by stirring intrinsic selves.