The Bridge – aka Coca Cola Boy

 This is a limited edition woodcut print.  I was invited to exhibit this piece (and several more woodcuts) at Impress -  International Printmaking Festival in Gloucester, UK.  This piece was used on the cover of the catalogue advertising the Red Ink show in the Gloucester Cathedral cloisters (see photo).

I have always been fascinated by the similarities between indigenous cultures from wildly separated lands and have illustrated this in my work.  In this piece there are elements of North American and African indigenous cultures linked through the peoples represented by the boy - the bridge.  My work explores the impact of the industrialized and technologized civilization on the tribal cultures - thus the boy is half in his tribal clothing and holding an arrow and half in "western" garb holding a cell phone.  The ubiquitous Coca Cola T shirt is intended as an ironic reference to the overwhelming influence of hypercapitalism.