Daily Sketch: Je Suis
I may not be creating groundbreaking images with my daily sketches, though in another life I might have. I certainly know the power of an image to inform and influence when words fail, and I fully support the right of others to express themselves in symbols and caricatures without fear of death.
Before there was the written word, there were images, symbols and caricatures we created to express concepts and information about the world around us to others even if they weren’t in our presence. Is that not one of the things that makes us unique as a species, to take some simple object, even scratching with a stick in the dirt, and create something we only need to look at to understand? When the written word came to be it was not given to the common person to understand what was being conveyed in the world, but images could still be understood without any need to learn the system of symbols that are language.
This is why those who create images are such a threat to tyranny that they would feel the need to kill the communicator to silence the message. But creating images that others can understand is something all of us can do, no matter where we live.
Though the magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked as a whole for its irreverent satirical content in the face of radical Islam, it was the cartoons that had seemed to be the most memorable and offensive—you needn’t understand French to know what they said. Four members of its cartooning staff were among the twelve who were killed. The magazine owner and staff knew the reactions of many and received death threats for the nature of their content, but they believed that speech is freedom, that it is influential and they have just as much right to convey what they feel as anyone else, cartoons and articles alike.
And it doesn’t matter what images we make, we get a reaction, even me with my cat paintings, hoping I build love and respect for a species I care for and find inspiring, and other animals by the energy passed along with goodwill. In that way we are all Charlie, whether we are professional artists or not, but today we stand with those who knowingly put their lives on the line for their right to express their opinions.
And what does the little black paw mean? Well, how else would you know it was me?
Click here to see other daily sketches.
For a gallery of the ones available for sale, visit my Etsy shop in the “Cat Art and Prints” section.
Read about the reason for the daily sketches in Three Years of Daily Sketches, Awards and Collections.
And download your free desktop wallpaper calendar for computer or mobile, usually based on a daily sketch.
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Daily sketches, illustrations, commissioned portraits all in a small coil-bound gift book.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.
© 2015 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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They were so brave..to stand up for what they believed in..very touching Bernadette..
Thanks, Bluemoonalone. We all need to take a few steps back.
This is a wonderful depiction.
Like you alluded to in your commentary a image conveys a great deal of meaning and you do not have to understand the words, just the image.
Whatever scatological humor Charlie Hedob used to portray their point of view, I support their right to express it.
#jesuis Charlie
Yes–we used images to communicate over time with others long before we had a written language. And there was a good bit I really didn’t like in Charlie, but they had every right to express it, and no one had the right to kill them for it.
“…we stand with those who knowingly put their lives on the line for their right to express their opinions.”
So do I.
#JeSuisCharlie
Yes, we may not like the opinion, but they have every right to express it.
Well put.
Thank you!