Commissioned by and on permanent exhibit
at Denver International Airport
This is one of two sets of murals (four total)
Two smaller at 12 ft. x 15 ft. w
Two larger at and 12 ft. x 28 ft. w.
Smaller mural – The Present
State of the Environment
Humanity, represented by multi-racial
children, is shocked and saddened at finding our natural
world in a trampled and abused state. Surrounding the youthful group
are endangered
or extinct wildlife species. The bewildered children view
the Snow Leopard, said to be the most beautiful of the large cats, laid
out
lifeless before them displaying its exquisite fur and colors.
To the left, a young girl gazes at a Great Auk in a display case, a vanished
species made extinct in 1844. On the right front, a young
boy touches
a display case containing the last of the Passenger Pigeons,
a species existing in immense numbers throughout the Eastern U.S., and
finally
extinguished in 1914. Shown also are a harpooned Gray Whale,
a Kemp’s
Ridley sea turtle enmeshed in a fishing net, and a wall
mounted buffalo head. Fluttering over the central scene, is an agitated
Quetzal bird,
with parts of a display case ominously surrounding it,
as if foretelling its extinction.
Behind these central images, a fire
rages, consuming a rainforest, while in the foreground we see endangered
plant life, such as the Holy Ghost Orchid, from Panama, the Flower
of the Gods, South Africa and others. In the immediate foreground are
three concrete coffins, each containing a young girl clutching cultural
articles. These three girls symbolize our own humanity as victims of
our self destruction, notably through war, slavery, genocide, exploitation
and violence of all kind.
Larger mural – A Hopeful Future
in which Humanity Rehabilitates the Environment
On this mural, I depict humanity, represented
by children of the world arrayed in national or folkloric costumes. They
move from both ends towards the center, and are shown smiling optimistically
as they strive to rehabilitate our natural environment. On the background
to this jubilant procession, are depicted various temperate zones of
our planet beginning, on the extreme left with the ocean, temperate forests,
frigid, tropical rainforest, and desert.
These “zones” are pictorially described with relevant geographical
features, as well as wildlife indigenous to those regions. For example,
the Quetzal bird signifies tropical rain or cloud forests, while the
Snow Leopard is representative of frigid mountainous environments. Moreover,
these different zones are shown as robust and healthy, as are the various
wildlife species depicted. This portrayal is confluent with the ideal
of a rehabilitated natural environment resplendent in all its beauty.
The elated children, in the colorful and lively
costumes of thirty-two nations, move happily to where a special and unique
flowering plant is about to be placed in the soil. This flower, its radiating
leaves reflecting all the colors of the rainbow, reveal within its folds
the configuration of a small white dove (reminiscent of the Holy Ghost
Orchid). With this image, I sought to symbolize a new appreciation of
our environment as a spiritual as well as a physical entity, a precious
and delicate domain entrusted to our care.
