DAY 210

SOCIAL & POLITICAL COMMENTARY

Separation

CAPTURING THE SPACE IN BETWEEN

To separate is the act of moving away from a position of unity, becoming singular or individual or cutting off pieces of a whole. In many ways, a separated entity or object can appear to visually be in unity. After all, when we are separate we are whole unto ourselves. Social separation is dual in nature, at once both necessary and a cause of pain—separation created the United States but is also at the root of genocide.

Separation can be shown using a line, a point of demarcation, or a space, or area of separation that intervenes between two figures. Representing separation or division between a person and a concept is a particular challenge. Color can be used to mark the separation between man and concept, like the yellow of the boxcar dividing the concept of stepping up and moving toward a higher ideal (the promise of the open sky) and a man turning his back and walking away from that opportunity. —MLR