into walls of crimson aural shimmers
gliding soon, when, where how
amidst glowering few yews
yearling Well in thy Moon.

Yell, scream, pound. Pound.
Upsurging streams of mellow feathers,
Fluttering in the amber Well,
Pounding, penetrating, uplifting
Flutter, flutter; flutter...

Gleaming and streaming,
Flow, and flight. White blurs ambient bliss,
Bliss becomes pain; Pain surges upon bliss,
Seething, and burning.
Heal and Whole, between the flicker of inception.
Ceptor and Seek. Seek. Seek.

...incept and furrow onwarD.

From the NYTimes:

While an international debate rages over the future of the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military has quietly expanded another, less-visible prison in Afghanistan, where it now holds some 500 terror suspects in more primitive conditions, indefinitely and without charges.

Some of the detainees have already been held at Bagram for as long as two or three years. And unlike those at Guantánamo, they have no access to lawyers, no right to hear the allegations against them and only rudimentary reviews of their status as "enemy combatants," military officials said.

From the accounts of former detainees, military officials and soldiers who served there, a picture emerges of a place that is in many ways rougher and more bleak than its counterpart in Cuba. Men are held by the dozen in large wire cages, the detainees and military sources said, sleeping on the floor on foam mats and, until about a year ago, often using plastic buckets for latrines. Before recent renovations, they rarely saw daylight except for brief visits to a small exercise yard.

So this is how America liberates the world to the wonders of Democracy. Three years in near concentration camp conditions. No trial, no lawyers; you can't even find out why you're contained! All this for deciding to fight on the wrong side while your own country is being liberated (or is it invaded).

The Geneva Convention states:

• Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated.
• Prisoners of war shall be quartered under conditions as favourable as those for the forces of the Detaining Power who are billeted in the same area.

One would think that for a country so obsessed with Democracy and Liberty the Geneva Convention would be a fundamental aspect in how they wage war. Obviously not.

And now we wonder why there is a massive influx in terrorism and hatred of the West. We blame it on Islam; we blame it on Saddam; we blame it on Bin Laden. When will we realise that we ourselves are partly to blame.

$395
70cm x 50cm
acrylic on canvas
2005

digital photograph
2006

From The Age:

Australians are grumpy about John Howard’s handling of health. They are unsure of education. They oppose the war on Iraq and are wary of IR changes. And yet … they like the Prime Minister. It seems that if the economy’s good, Australians are willing to forgive almost anything

"He’s a pretty solid PM — pretty honest," says Hancock. "The way he gets a handle on the economy is the best thing he does. You don’t have high inflation and rates going through the roof."

Most people live their lives around family and children and bills and mortgages and footy and mates, and politics comes in at number 12 — unless they’re angry. At the moment, through John Howard’s leadership, you rarely have an angry Australia.

Putting aside whether Labor or Liberal would handle the economy better (that is a debate within itself), it seems the prime concern of most Australians is their precious hard-earned cash.

We live in our own little isolated world, worrying about a slight increase in our massive debts. We have forgotten what it is truly like to have no money; to live in poverty. We pay little heed to our politicians sending us to dubious wars over the other side of the world. We happily let our lives and society be dominated and ruled by the United States. We ignore the environment and global warming; more concerned with whether we can afford that fancy new TV.

We live in our own safe little world, oblivious to the greater worries of the world. Lucky us.

$325
40cm x 55cm
acrylic and oil on canvas
2005

$295
60cm x 15cm
acrylic on board
2005

$225
30cm x 45cm
acrylic and oil on canvas
2005