Honor us.

Understand
there may be reasons,
necessity,  
for keeping one’s mouth closed,
or
having one’s mouth open
to speak.

Those who speak,
respect those who cannot.

Those who cannot,
respect those who speak.

Both have
their right time
and value.

Both
take courage,
so either way,
hold us in your heart.

Either way . . .
Honor us.

Playing with layers, colors, drips and dry brush mists, forms emerge, the woman on the left showed herself first, then, the second veiled one.  This piece became a meditation on the condition of women around the world, particularly the Middle East, and the various challenges women deal with living under rigidity and tradition of culture.

In the painting, one woman has her mouth covered, the other uncovered.  It takes courage to be able to speak about your experience, not hold it in anymore.  And, there is the forbearance it takes to hold something because the situation deems that one must hold silence.  

The big heart revealed itself as I painted.  How appropriate that the English word for courage has its root in the French word for heart, coeur.