
Artist's commentary
Golden Shackles
This is who I am.
The garish gleam of vulgar gold. Shackles, the antithesis of freedom. The heavy chains' irritating rattling invites scorn and mockery. It could not be clearer to all that the one who wears them is defeated. These marks of humiliation prove to all who behold them that their bearer is guilty of a grievous mistake, and so has been reduced to such a pitiful state.
But now, we are the beholders. We see these shackles unlocked, from without.
The gleam becomes ordinary. They no longer offer any impediment to one's freedom. They lie, abandoned, in the desert sands.
And so, I say again:
This is who I am.