Artist As Witness

"It's not about the sea," he said. "Oh, that's impressive: the surging waves, how the deftness of the brush has captured the lashing of the foam that obscures the last sliver of blue sky. But that's not the point, you see. Not the sea. It's all about the ships: the new technology and the might of man within nature."

I looked and saw. The steam ship held firm against the seemingly almighty force that surrounded it. Technology and progress at its finest.

Yet my eye was caught and kept returning to a small, red fishing boat in the corner of the canvas. It had not the might of steam, nor the weight of steel. I thought I saw the despair of a life caught between what has been and what is to come captured in the eyes of the tiny figure within.