Suzanne Kachmar
Purple Heart for School
The green high-top sneakers with the purple heart are the brutal reminder of the mass shooting of school children in Uvalde Texas. Maria, the mother of a child who died that day was left the memento of her daughter’s green sneakers that she painted with a purple heart. The purple heart is a U.S. military decoration awarded to those who are wounded or killed while serving.
Uvalde Target Bag
Children, a vulnerable population, risk their lives daily going to school. Parents offer their children to the potential tragedy of slaughter caused by the lust of the gun/political industrial complex and the insanity of the availability of automatic weapons. We all take a chance going to shop. In the USA the iconic Target shopping bags are everywhere. Mass murders happen everywhere. The Target bag multiples painted on mass-produced bags, ironically echo the concept of mass consumerism, mass-murder and the vulnerability of the danger through the accessibility of automatic rifles.
Golden Sneakers
Ironically my works for this show all depict sneakers as a visual theme. Sneakers are a utilitarian form of fashion, for they are a status symbol. Recently a celebrity running for public office introduced a fundraising initiative, selling golden sneakers, prompting an absurd visual image of Winged Mercury.
