Mandala for Who We Are by Diana Berek

All copyrights for the art on this page are owned by the artist, Diana Berek.

Mandala for Who We Are by Diana Berek

Artist's Statement
"Mandala for Who We Are", Acrylic on paper, 2000:14" x 15"
A mandala is a schematized representation of the cosmos chiefly
characterized by a concentric organization of geometric shapes. The
act of creating a mandala is itself a process of prayer and the image
holds the spiritual power of that prayer. This painting is my prayer
for working class people, many of whom are now multiple job holding
part-time workers; laid off, outplaced, and "obsoleted" workers;
temporarily or permanently unemployed workers; and the unsung,
unvalued workers like moms and granny-nannies who take care of the
children and the home and hearth so everyone else can go out and
work. This includes the artists, the musicians and the poets,
whether they have a day job or not, who give us the creative and
spiritual energy to keep on keepin' on.

The four heads represent the peoples of the world as symbolized by
four skin colors. The heads emerge from each other because we are
interconnected and interdependant, especially today in this era of
globalization. The heads form an unbroken cirlce, each mouth is
opened, as if speaking, to "utter" or express the labor of the
present generation and to form the next generation thus connecting
people across time and space. Each opened mouth expresses attributes
of our labor which is the infrastructure supporting society: at
upper left, earth, grapes and corn; at lower left, the cogs and
wheels of industry; at lower right, the atoms and computer of science
and technology; and at upper right, art, music, literature. To work
is to bring into being. Every form of labor, regardless of how
menial or how exhalted, participates in an integrated collective
creative expression which forms the culture of society.

This painting was included in the Biennial "Union Images" exhibition
(September 2 through October 15, 2000 at the Chicago Cultural Center)
curated by Elena Marcheschi and jurored by Michael Paxton.

Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center (UM-CAC). E-mail UM-CAC at umcac@art-teez.org Ph.773/561-7676