Sharon Bourke

Bearing Witness
digital (painter classic, photoshop elements, quark)
9 x 7 in.

No living creature deserves to be abused-children least of all, because of their vulnerability and inability to defend themselves. Mistreatment early in life can sadly and distortedly define for a child what it means to be alive. These traumas can be overcome, but not without leaving scars.

My work “Bearing Witness”, symbolically depicts whippings by belt that I endured as a child at the hands of my father. It should be noted that my memories of them, their cuts and welts, and the inability to sit back in my chair at school because of their lingering pain, are over 60 years old. This work is simultaneously the mnemonic fingering of a scar and my protest.

© Sharon Bourke