Recently in the Danforth Gallery at University of Maine Augusta, Peter Precourt put up a series of paintings related to Hurricane Katrina and different aspects of it. The painting I chose that was most interesting to me was the CNN News Ratings Spike. This painting shows an african-american holding his baby with white soldiers in front of him with a caption below it saying: "We watched, transfixed, the superdome superdivide." Below that was the CNN logo and around it, it stated: "And the news networks ratings spiked with each new primetime injustice and finally below that was another caption: "Meanwhile... the complete destruction of waveland mississippi was left on the cutting room floor." Also in the background is an abstraction of absolute destruction beautifully painted to show everything being washed away.
The meaning of this painting shows the media control on every day life which is clear if you take a little time to figure it out. Media only shows certain aspects of situations but Precourt tells all, especially in this painting. Although thousands of people were cooped up in the superdome, people tend to forget the total destruction of the hurricane. However I am confused about what Precourt was trying to say about the african-american male confronted by white soldiers. Was he trying to portray some racism saying that black people were getting the short end of the stick so to speak? Im not too sure but maybe he wasnt trying to be abstract about that specific situation and wasnt trying to show racism within the superdome
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