SCOTT LEAHING

The visual arts provides a format for expression that can be powerful in both describing and eliciting intellectual and visceral responses to the images presented. In thinking about social issues and social justice it is hard to escape the toxic and chaotic nature of politics in our country and around the world. As conflicting issues collide with one another the resulting flashpoints threaten to create an uncontrollable burn. A burn that threatens to destroy life as we know it today. To quench some of the anger and seek resolution and healing we must proactively seek out the humanity in these situations and move away from viewing life in abstract terms. We can do that by looking at others, different from ourselves, and try to understand their worldviews and their life through their eyes.

Naturally, my own worldview has been formed by my life experience. I am a gay man, born in the Caribbean of Asian descent who was educated in an English based system run by Jesuit priests in Jamaica, went to college in Canada and the USA and who has also lived in Guam and traveled worldwide and now live in the Pacific Northwest. Using my art I seeks to engage the viewer by having them look at people from other parts of the world, to gaze into their faces and to imagine what they might be experiencing. It is a small step in the scope of world healing but at the same time a very large personal step forward. When we experience empathy for others then we grow as individuals and as a nation.