Bastille Day

This piece began with a key that I found in a bag of trinkets from the craft store. It made me think of the key to the Bastille that my family and I saw at Mt. Vernon many years ago. That key had been given to Washington by Lafayette after the French Revolution. It's meant to symbolize freedom over tyranny. I didn't think too much about it at the time- just thought how cool that was. To me, Bastille Day was kind of a fun, quasi-patriotic occasion. I knew the outline of the events as I knew the events of the American Revolution; a pristine collection of dates, facts and iconic characters. The pageant of history is bloodless. The reality is elusive and indefinable.
It's so easy to see historical events in terms of right and wrong- good and evil. The ends are said to justify the means. So often we find that what we thought was true was just so much nationalistic propaganda. Who was right? Who can say?

I tried to bring these thoughts together in this piece called "Bastille Day". The key represents the "key to freedom from tyranny". The grille is ornate but rusted- evoking the decay of the dissipated aristocracy. A red ribbon twines about the key like a fasces, a symbol of ancient Rome adopted by the Revolution. It is suspended from the grille as if from a neck- to signify the red ribbons allegedly worn by the relatives of guillotined victims. The grille is set in what appears to be a stone casement, but looking closely the "stones" are made of newspaper. Ephemeral and - subjective. Through the grille we see a brilliant red and orange light- is it the dawn of freedom or the mouth of hell that is about to be unleashed?