Title: Strength of 2 Nations
Size: 36 in x 48 in
Medium: Acrylic, oil, art markers, cardboard on stretched canvas
 
From the Rare series 
 
Signed canvas reprints will be limited to 3 per size. Signed prints will also be available with a limit of 10 per size.
 
Please allow 5 to 7 business days for processing
 
To purchase the original painting, please e-mail: info@tashawebster.com.
 
 
As an African American in the US I’ve personally experienced and observed this feeling of being “split” between two powerful nations. The strength and culture of each, however, is starkly different and incomparable. 
 
In America, we are often seen as outsiders, threats, commodities and were once undeniably treated as a piece of property or dispensable resource. We were, however, stolen from our homeland. A land where we will never have the privilege of knowing just how different our lives and the lives of future generations could have been if we were never enslaved. Conversely, we are still so distant from Africa unless we have the resources and time to visit and to dig deeper into our heritage ourselves. I’ve personally had a sense of “knowing” or a pride to be connected to a country so innovative, so beautiful, so filled with culture and traditions. Unfortunately, however, we’ve seen most recently (with the #EndSars movement along with many more unfathomable injustices) that even they have and are enduring tragedies so mindless that my heart breaks for the state of mankind, not just America.
 
The underlying factor(s) contributing to mass murder, injustice and the abuse of each respective nation most always points to those in power. Be it government officials, law enforcement or corporations they’ve all had a hand in creating the dynamics that induce fear based tactics that support the oppression of those who they perceive as less than. Their greed, their egos, their lack of integrity and empathy is the reason why we continue to parish. Their willful ignorance, their neglect and inaction, and their hunger for more informs their savage decisions and built the foundation(s) of the communities and citizens that they fraudulently claim to protect, honor, and serve. 
 
In my humble opinion, there is NO EXCUSE valid enough to explain away our nations deficits and inefficiencies. On one hand they’ve each shown that they can be understanding of the human condition, but only on their terms and for their collective gain. They’ve shown us that when they want to fund and address something no matter how arbitrary to an immediate global good that they’ll make a way. Meanwhile, millions continue to suffer day in and day out from a plethora of real-world/real-time issues that they could give two sh!ts about. 
 
Imagine how progressive and balanced our nations would be if the standard end goal for every law, every cause, every individual state or country addressed a collective good without pretense. One that left no room for biased and inherently racist/discriminatory/self-serving connotations and actually had a zero tolerance policy for any semblance of corruption or discrimination. As it stands, there’s way too many nuances, excuses and protections for those who should be held to a higher standard. We witness them get away with murder (both literally and figuratively). Yet we, as everyday citizens, are supposed to remain in-line and awkwardly obedient to laws we’ve never heard of to avoid the consequences of actions that they are alternatively praised for. In essence, each of these entities enacts a “Do as I say, not as I do” approach to reinforce a twisted need for unethical power over its citizens. Even in traditional workspaces we know that this is in NO WAY effective in maintaining collaborative and effective interpersonal dynamics. And yet, despite their training and awareness to the very laws they create and are exposed to on a daily basis they fu€k up time and time again and laugh in our faces afterwards...