good questions, Frank.....:(
wish.........that we all had pillows.
Bill

Dejected figures without a source for the pain may be more powerful. I was given the figures to add elements to. The added elements were the copper shackles, chains and shoes. I thought giving them something to drag (heavy pillows), that was attached to them gave their state of mind a focus rather than unknown, encompassing despair. If only they could break their chains...

I have a hard time watching documentaries that include actual footage of torture, holocaust, starvation victims. It is gut wrenching and ghastly! Something to learn from though. Humans are so at odds with each other. Killing, torturing for land, title and ego. On the other hand, we create life even though we know about suffering.

In college, I made an artist's book using images of terror from newspaper and magazine articles. I depressed my class for a while. My classmates wanted to know why I picked the subject matter. It was powerful. There was no misinterpretation of the message. It could not be misconstrued to be about me.

I limit my exposure to things like that now, so that I can be positive for my boys. They will find out about history soon enough.