‘UPRISEʼ is a visual history of protest and resistance. As an artist, I am compelled to paint what consumes me. In the age of Donald Trump, rising racism and xenophobia, corporate greed and blatant human rights violations across the globe, I am consumed by the desire for change. I am consumed by hope for a better world and a need to throw out of power those who donʼt deserve it. As we all know, history will repeat itself. A look back on human history reveals time and again how the powerless have risen to topple the powerful and how the little man can vanquish tyrants with peaceful protest and the power of ideas. This exhibition is a reminder of that awesome power, a reminder that protest and resistance is a human trait and a human right. Wether itʼs Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma, an anonymous man in Tiananmen Square or a Palestinian child with a sling shot, change always comes at a price and with much endurance. In these works, I hope to honor those brave leaders of the past, while emboldening the freedom fighters of our future.
- TRISTAN EATON