Amey Fearon Mathews:

In recent years, many seemingly unrelated experiences have raised similar, recurring thoughts:

• Wonder and confusion at the polarized global and national responses to September 11th, 2001… and the ease with which key figures were demonized and idolized… the increased perception of only two existing views (“us” and “them,” “the West” and “The East,” “we’ll hear from someone on both sides of the issue,” “hero/defender” and “enemy/aggressor”)
• Travels between California and the Southern U.S., and exposure to good people in both places, with radical & radically different political perspectives.
• A television documentary about Saddam Hussein’s tragic and violent childhood. Where is the invisible line balancing personal responsibility with the effects of circumstance in a person’s life?
• A shop in Northern California selling yoga supplies, alternative magazines about peace and justice, & organic hemp clothing – with a poster on the wall of George Bush’s face aggressively defaced… taking joy in hostility and divisiveness. What does it mean to hate someone for hating?

Before: Portraits of Current World Leaders