shapirobar@earthlink.net

I use images now, almost exclusively, to tackle the social themes I’ve been addressing verbally, as a teacher and activist, for over 40 years.

Having grown up as a Jew during WW II, I always knew that prejudice was harmful, more alarmingly, often lethal--not only for individuals, but for whole peoples--six million of my own, before I was 10.  So understanding how prejudice and oppression operate, and how they can be reduced (if not actually eliminated) has always been a major life focus for me.  On the other hand, as an artist, I am easily seduced by beauty, curious and distracted by how things look, awed by spectacle, and addicted to the pleasures of illusion.

My current body of work aims to meld my politics and aesthetics as it looks at several religious minorities, in public and at prayer (Catholic Nuns, Greek Orthodox Priests, Hasidic Jews, and Muslims).  It explores how they appear to others, and what appears to them during their devotions.  It examines the visual interplay between what is actually happening and what is actively imagined.

When I first began producing art, I used scissors and glue on appropriated printed images.  Now, by disciplining myself to use only my own photographs, I’m compelled to get closer and more personal with my subjects, thereby reducing the distance that permits or encourages seeing them as “other.” 

Two artistic issues challenge me:

1. 1.How can my art teach without becoming “preachy”?
   

2. 2.How can I use art to persuade while remaining visually and intellectually subtle enough to retain viewers’ interest?