The Claim of Sanity

In the first unit of my summer class, "P'art of History," we discussed the history of Chicago and who laid claim to our Chicago. The first unit that we have been working on is called, "Reclaim." In this unit, we learned about the history of Chicago. I put a lot of thought into my piece and I believe I have a wonderful message that I'm trying to get across. Creating the drawing and carving was not easy. In order to create my piece, I had to exit my comfort zone of drawing and create clean, straight lines while focusing on the drawing itself.

"The Claim of Sanity Visual" (By TC) Jul 2, 2014. 

By DR
Title: The Claim of Sanity
Medium/Material: Linocut (Soft cut Linoleum, Carving Tools)
Size: 6x6 inches
Date: July, 2014

“The Claim of Sanity” 

Want to know who claims my Chicago?

The CPD

The Gangs

But not even the government

Because the government isn’t full of ruthless people,

if Chicago was claimed by the government,

there would be no homicide.

People wouldn’t complain about how their children starving

or not getting the right education

The people we call our “protectors” and “leaders”

are sitting on stacks of money so high,

they can see the hope we are so desperate to catch out of the sky

got old men on Stony Island sellin’ bean pies.

But yet we embrace Chicago like we satisfied

We live off, under 10% of the money that others make but we’re satisfied

well I'm not.

it’s funny how we all have conditions to live under

how we can work in hotels that we can’t afford

how most people say Chicago is “sane” but I’ve never seen these people in my neighborhood.

three of my cousins just got murdered in my neck of the woods,

where were you?

Already in 2014, 108 people have been murdered

How much time will go by,

until we tell another brave soul goodbye.

Insanity claims Chicago,

Meanwhile, Chicago claims sanity and that’s nothing but an illusion.

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I was asked, "How Do You Visualize Your Chicago?" My answer was kind of long. 

I started thinking about something that is widely regarded as representation of my “beautiful” city. The first thing that came to mind was the skyline. Then I began to think about who really has the power in the Chi. The first thing to pop up in my mind was violence; The CPD and the Gangs. I’m starting to think the police kill more than the gangs do. So I tried to complete a six point star in the middle of the skyline to represent the police and I thought a gun inside the star would be just the right touch.

I honestly believe people are the same. Remorseless, Ruthless, Nonchalant, and Stupid. I think that just as people were trying to be greedy back then and just because they could, they would kill for reputation and land, it’s the same exact thing now. In 1763, “The French and Indian War,” was regarded as a time where the British took loads of land from the French, simply because they had the power to.

My art piece is the Chicago Skyline, representing how people think of Chicago as the best city and “beautiful,” but look past the fact that Chicago is ruled by death and violence. I will use the carving I created in the picture above to make a plaster sculpture.

I showed many Neoclassical qualities such as the badge in the middle of the drawing, meaning a supposedly “heroic” figure. Also there seems to be clean lines and it is pretty simple.