Graffiti Wall

For my graffiti wall assignment, I decided to do a little collage of pictures I thought best represented the themes we have talked about in the subject of war and peace. I used Photoshop to get these pictures to blend together more, and create a unified look.

First, I took a picture of a broken road as the background. I used this picture because I thought it represented how homes or other areas can get so destroyed from war. This picture shows that the cement actually broke into the water, and over half of it is severally broken and not useable. This is a small example, but we all know how long construction takes once a road is destroyed, or even when there is a pothole. That would be a miniscule reminder of just how much the war affected that place. This would also be a small factor on representing geography in relation to war. Take 9/11 for example, since the World Trade Centers were hit, it has drastically affected the geography of New York. There is still a monument in place of them, and for very long after, many roads surrounding were closed. There was glass and other debris everywhere, affecting greatly affected the geography of that one location, and affecting the rest of the United States as well.

The next thing I did was take a picture of a mom, dad, and two kids, otherwise previously known as the “traditional family”. I decided to break them apart, because it shows just how severely a war impacts a family. As shown from A Long Way Gone, families get torn apart from wars, and in the case of Sierra Leone, it is possible to never see your family again. Going off family, I wrote “Not so traditional family” at the top in red, to signify what I meant by the family getting broken apart. I wrote it in red because red is typically one of the most noticed colors. Family also plays a significant role in a person’s culture. If a family is broken apart from war or anything else, their culture has been severely shifted as well.

Finally, I put in a picture of a broken peace sign. At first I thought that since it is a unit of war and peace, I wanted to put a peace sign. I then thought however that since my focus of my collage was mainly about the ramifications of war, I wanted to put a broken peace sign. Peace is most often destroyed once war hits. Like Sean and A Long Way Gone have said, people are constantly living in fear once a war is struck. That to me does not signify peace. That is why I thought a broken peace sign in the middle of my artwork was more appropriate.