Artist Statement

A Poem on Wrongs 

Maverick Harriman 

The piece of art I have created at first glance can be described as a simple poem, but upon further inspection, the letters are very geometric, and on occasion, the words may have another meaning. The mediums, tools, and techniques I used were all very basic; nothing more than a simple piece of paper, a pencil, and a sharpie were the only things used to create this piece.

The big idea of this entire project was not only to raise awareness but to truly make the person think about what is being read or seen. The issue that this poem addresses is the neglect of the 7th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the article stating that "We are all equal before the law." Throughout the entire project, the thing that I found the most of was absolute inequality and sadness. As I continued reading through the articles, each became worse than the last. For example, one of those articles explained how someone went on trial six times on the same conviction, and out of the six trials, 41 out of 42 African American jurors were "removed" or said unfit to judge. So, as I wrote my poem and revised it, with each and every word, I tried to make them as impactful and full of emotion as possible. I did that because I believe everyone should be equal regardless of what defines them.

In creating this piece, I learned from creating this piece is both the power of any art and the strength behind a poem. It can be filled with more meaning and feeling than any choice of normal words ever could. The one thing that I hope people learn from this piece is that civil rights problems aren't just something to throw to the wind or simply forget about because not everyone has that choice, and by doing that, you are keeping it that way. My message is that not everyone can ignore civil rights problems, so maybe, you shouldn't either.