Artist Statement

Chase Thomas

Silence Kills

My art piece is a silver head on a black piece of paper. I used a printout to copy the head's outline so that I did everything precisely. I used a white marker for my first outline and then covered it in silver to re-outline the heads and the words. Next, I wrote around 10 symptoms spilling out the bottom of the head. To finish my art piece, I wrote at the top of the piece in an uneven font, "Silence Kills."

What inspired me was the T.V. show NCIS, and there was a two-part episode. We see the two main characters get captured and tortured, and when they get freed, everything seems fine. The main characters were staying silent, but the problems and they were in a bad state, having PTSD. That is what inspired me to focus on the psychological aspect of torture. There was a problem in the Russian-Ukraine war where there were 10 torture sites in one town where the soldiers and citizens of this town were randomly chosen to be tortured by the Russian soldiers. I tried to show darkness in my piece with black paper and silver. I did this because that's how torture victims feel like they're in the dark. Also, this is why I wrote "Silence Kills," since they're in darkness with no help, so they might end their life or have their physical life fade away while suffering in silence.

I learned what torture victims deal with after torture. The darkness they deal with is saddening. I want everyone to know what the victims feel, not the torturing they dealt with. I think most people only really care about torturing, and I believe there is so much more to torture than the act. The psychological part of torture is so much worse than the act. I want to shine a light on the symptoms and how if the victims don't seek help after the tour, they can end up dead, or they can end up hurting others. The message of my piece is Silence kills, so speak up.