private collection

On Mother's Watch

(Gouache on Arches watercolor paper) 

One of the most impressive images upon my life

came from a documentary showing the “liberation” of the death camp at Auschwitz.

I was thirteen years old at the time.

The image was that of two figures, both so decimated by starvation and other horrific physical

 and, I’m certain, psychological abuses it was no longer possible to determine

the age or sex of either figure.

 Either could have easily been adult or child, male or female. 

Years later, I became aware of the controversy

surrounding the reign of Pope Pius XII with regard to his alleged disregard

for the plight of the victims of the Nazi regime

and his alleged continuance of doing business with Germany

with full knowledge of the atrocities taking place. 

This painting depicts the two figures from the documentary,

positioned as they were discovered in the process of dying,

as representatives of the truly horrific behavior of which we, as a species, are capable.

This horror is taking place under the canopy

of a beautifully frescoed interior of a cathedral,

representative of The Mother Church and Pius XII as its sovereign. 

In the background is an exterior of the now abandoned death camp.

The empty boots left by the fleeing criminals.

The red flags, streaming to and pouring out over the camp

representative of the tremendous bloodshed of the innocents. 

Beneath this scene is a band of red eyed figures.

These figures are representations of Horror itself being horrified by our behavior.