Let Me Speak

Artist Statement

Let Me Speak

Ella

My art piece is a variation of many different things. The media that I used was acrylic paint and a canvas. My art has a Robert E. Lee statue traced out. In the center of the horse there is a poster that the KKK held up during the beginning of the protest. The poster in the middle is really the main controversy because the KKK is mainly based in Charlottesville. Around the outside of the poster the leftover area shows different sayings on the signs that people held up during the protest.

The meaning to my art piece has to do with freedom of expression and safety. My topic is the Charlottesville protest. One side of the people at the protest want to keep the statue of Robert E. Lee because Lee was as important as a past president to many people of Charlottesville. Robert E. Lee was a confederate general that believed black people should be slaves. In these days, most people believe that this statue should be taken down. Most people don’t support a man who fought to split our country in two and keep black people.

The message that I am trying to show with my piece is that there are always two sides and sometimes one of the sides just gets stepped over. I think that is very wrong because both sides may have very good points, but people who just listen to one side are being falsely educated about the subject. They are not taking the time to listen to both sides, they are just hopping on a bandwagon. I'm hoping that people can get this out of my artwork. What inspired me to make this piece was the fights that were happening between the people in the community. It was very interesting to learn about the statue and why people wanted it taken down or wanted it to stay up. I hope people will be more interested in this controversy and take time to learn more information about it before jumping to conclusions.