Art

“Let my People Go”

April 28, 2021 - By Natalie Buske Thomas

As happens occasionally, I have again painted “into the future”. This art is from nearly ten years ago. I painted it in response to government tyranny, relating to injustice I was personally facing. But, when viewed in light of 2020 and continuing to this date, some will likely assume other motivations and inspirations for why I painted this art “Let my People Go”, depicting New York City’s Statue of Liberty raising a staff like Moses to part the waves.

Are the people coming or going? The ambiguous figures make their intentions of arrival or departure unclear, made even more obscure by the grainy footage of the painting session (it was filmed with my an old camcorder, before I got an HD camera). The inadvertent vintage nature suits the art.

Art, once shared, doesn’t belong to me. I follow what it feels like I should paint. Sometimes I paint when I’m upset and those emotions provide empathy to others who are facing hardships. Our troubles don’t need to be from the same issue or from the same time period to cross over into shared human experience.

When my art becomes historically timely, it’s unnerving, yet inspiring as well. We are all connected to each other and are connected to our past and future selves as well. No generation stands alone.