Like many Americans last Sunday was a time for deep reflection. I was asked earlier in the week by the editor of the Waxahachie Daily Light if I would put together a cartoon tribute for a special 9/11 edition they had planned for Sunday. I was honored to do so of course. My feelings for the historic day run deep as I imagine it did for Americans after the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941.
So what goes into drawing a cartoon such as this? Where I started with this cartoon was with images. Images I had seen hundreds of times over the years, and images that have come to symbolize what 9/11 is to all of us. In a cartoon such as this the cartoonist has a fraction of a second, perhaps more to connect with the reader. The symbols of this cartoon include the remains of the towers, a mirage of sorts of the N.Y. skyline, and the American flag. I wanted to have these elements in the background and be almost dreamlike in quality much as we have these images seared in our minds from that day.
The candles are of course representative of the vigils held in honor of those whose lives were taken. They also mimic the towers as they once stood from the drawn perspective. Just as the buildings were held up by the foundations and steel, 9/11 is held up by us, those who hold it in our hearts and symbolic hands. Who take action to remember what this day means to all us as Americans. I pray that we will all reflect on the poignant memories and move forward with a poignant resolve to uphold the values of America, and defend those values that all who wish to live by the liberties of the American way can do so, come what may.
Troy Johnson
No comments:
Post a Comment