FREEDOM IN CHAINS: A PARADOX

Title: FREEDOM IN CHAINS: A PARADOX

Freedom is a state where a person is not held captive or controlled by any one according to the dictionary. In society or in a country freedom cannot exist in its absolute form because freedom always needs to be balanced with the rights and freedoms of others, as well as societal needs for order and safety, meaning there will always be some limitations on individual freedom to maintain a functioning society. One of the things that holds freedom back from being absolute is responsibility. As Nelson Mandela once rightly said: “In life, every man has twin obligations — obligations to his family, to his parents, to his wife and children; and he has an obligation to his people, his community, his country. In a civil and humane resilience, the ability to deal with any kind of hardship and recover from its effects pushed to our Limits pushed to the last point in our ability to bear pain in society, each man is able to fulfil those obligations according to his own inclinations and abilities.” 

In my painting hands represent the restriction of responsibility to family, friends’ people, the chains, barbed wire and string surrounding the hands represent the restriction of responsibility to the law, and their country. The white mechanical dove in the middle of the painting is to represent the illusion of choice that exists when such restrictions are placed on us humans. 

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Artist: DAKSHA C