Toxic Environment

I chose to do my creative part in the form of a painted piece. I ended up using this medium because I thought it was the best way that I could portray the emotions that I feel when I read my newspaper article. I feel that my piece does a good job of showing how toxic the environment of my article was.

The article I chose was written on August 15, 1964, In Cleveland, Ohio. The article summarizes the sexual assault of three separate women, all on the same weekend. The first two women were raped in their own apartments. This was after their attacker was able to gain entry into their homes by cutting a screen and then opening a window. One of the attackers was arrested while the police searched for the other at his job.

The final case took place in the early morning. The victim was assaulted in the middle of the restaurant where her attacker claimed it was his wife. From there, he dragged her to his car, continuously assaulting her. While this was taking place, the victim said, "--But no one raised a hand to help me while I screamed and struggled--they just looked through the car windows like it was a show of some kind." The attacker then drove her to a lake, where he raped her. I wanted my piece to focus on this incident mainly. This is because I felt this entire assault could have been prevented if one of the bystanders were to jump in and lend a hand. So in my piece, I used a lot of dark colors that are meant to represent the toxicity of her surroundings and how it could have been stopped if it wasn't for this toxicity.