perspective | CANVASS 44

“The Problem We All Live With” by Norman Rockwell

“Mother hunger — to be one or have one”

~ Toni Morrison

… the desire to protect and be protected… to be seen as a human worthy to be celebrated… admired…forgiven…

It’s not about celebrating one over another. It’s about equal protection for a chance to get it right… or to get it wrong…

I think President Obama got it right when he honored the bravery of a six year old girl named Ruby Bridges by hanging Norman Rockwell’s painting “The Problem We All Live With” in the White House. Many thought the President got it wrong by choosing to highlight such an “ugly” part of American history. I see the image of Ruby shielded by several U.S. Marshalls and my heart aches and swells with pride. I guess we all have a right to choose what we will never forget…

Perspective…

Here we are in 2012, and some of the American media seems to have a tough time celebrating certain people’s achievements… Sometimes it is just the tone of the reporter… sometimes it is the persistent questioning of mental strength and preparedness… as if to diminish the hard work and mental toughness en route to becoming an Olympic champion twice over… (Thank you Gabby Douglas).

I understand that because Great Britain was the host country of the Olympics, the American media was keen to follow and celebrate their team’s wins (mainly when the American teams were not in medal contention)… however, as a multi-national patriot, I felt something else was going on… An air of exclusion that I have unfortunately grown accustom to…

Who do we readily accept as our heroes? And if someone who looks like Gabby Douglas (or Serena Williams) is that hero… do we explain it away by saying they are exceptions and not the rule (quite different from being exceptional, mind you)…? When the American flag fell during Serena’s medal ceremony, I felt a slight twinge of anxiety for how some would interpret it as a bad sign… But Serena’s response made my heart soar:

“…it was probably flying to come hug me because the flag was so happy.”

~ Serena Williams

The flag was not the only happy one, Miss Williams. (And while I’m celebrating Serena’s win, I’d like to congratulate some of my other favorite Olympic athletes… Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin, Allyson Felix, Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Samuel Mikulak and Usain Bolt).

The problems we all live with… we may not agree on what they are or how to solve them, but I can say this… I believe President Obama is the right one to deal with the problems of America.

Having a colorful past is about as American as it gets. (And just an FYI to Team Romney… America’s “shared heritage” expands well beyond the borders of Great Britain…). I designed my first multi-national symbol for my mom’s “seoul food” eatery… but it seems to have resonated with many people… so I designed a few more variations. I am posting it on CANVASS 44…to represent all multi-nationals who support President Obama.

Representing the change in America that has been here all along… From left to right: Americans from Cape Verde, Israel, Canada, Ghana, Japan, Korea and China. More to come…

A portion of proceeds from all merchandise on the CANVASS 44 store will go to the re-election campaign for President Obama, Partners in Health and the BVSJ.

Please share your art with us in support of the President via twitter @CANVASS44.

Thanks for reading!

~ Onjena

#sayitLOUD #registertovote #neverforget #spreadLOVE

ABOUT RUBY BRIDGES & NORMAN ROCKWELL

Ruby Bridges Hall now serves on the board of Norman Rockwell Museum and founded The Ruby Bridges Foundation in 1999 to promote the values of tolerance, respect, and appreciation of all differences. She commended Rockwell for having “enough courage to step up to the plate and say I’m going to make a statement, and he did it in a very powerful way.”

Norman Rockwell received letters of both praise and criticism for depicting such direct social commentary in his painting “The Problem We All Live With.” Rockwell continued to revisit the theme of civil rights in several other of his illustrations from the period.

*A very special shout out to @problemwthat for encouraging me to share my American story.

Dedicated to all my international friends who could not believe I was from America because I was brown. And especially dedicated to my “brown” Canadian friends who I couldn’t believe were from Canada… (Sorry, Prosper, Justice Fergie) Ahem… We all have work to do. United we stand…

The “Divided We Fall” Series was born out of the desire to see American icons be used in a way to represent all of us. As observed by one of my twitter friends, the use of the American flag, bald eagles and the like are often used in social media profile pictures to indicate a user’s supposed level of patriotism. And too often, many of these users do not have an inclusive view of what is “American.”

This design was inspired by those who “want to take their country back.” Which clearly begs the question, “From whom and back to where?” As one of those who leans forward (Maddow shoutout), I say to those who tell me to keep the change, “Absolutely. Give me some mo’! 4’mo!”

Keepin’ the Change

An Obamanation, indeed! I’m in!

Obamanation

We are the ones… but we are not the only ones. This is not about who is superior. It’s about changing the rules so that we don’t live in a system where success is limited to the few. It’s about equal opportunity to succeed and fail… to be average or exceptional… It’s about equal access to greatness.

Exceptional

This theme of redefining American icons carried over into the Say It Loud Design Series as well. All designs are available on t-shirts and various accessories on our CANVASS 44 store for the benefit of Organizing for America.

Thanks for reading!

~ Onjena

#sayitLOUD #registertovote #spreadLOVE

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Onjena makes her professional debut at Carbon-Fibre Media with her line of toy robots called “O’BOTS” and a line of political t-shirts for CANVASS 44. She is also an amateur scrapbooker.