It as been said before, ‘forgive others and JAH will forgive you’._____ I would say, ‘forgive others and you have forgiven yourself.’
I am going to use a story to explain the symbols on this artwork. It is a collage. The following is not a true life story but an illustration that I only created to explain the art.
In a small village, there lived a chief that is suppose to be happy and contented with what he has, but the chief rather prefer to be critical about a man name Bob. Bob was an immigrant from a nearby village. Bob was also a hardworking guy who just want to make a living and put a roof over his head, but for some reason, Chief was always investigating and talking evil about Bob.
One faithful day, the chief decided to investigate and spy on Bob again. Upon getting to the house of Bob, he was surprise to met Bob at home and wanted to know his name. Yes, he always gossip about Bob and don’t even know his name (before now, he only referred to Bob as “the stranger”).
Bob being a Rasta, proudly hit his chest with his right hand and said “my name is I”.
The chief was surprise that Bob’s name is just a single letter, but thought to himself, “that most be how they name themselves in his formal village.”
[that is why on the artwork you can see the capital letter ‘I’ at the upper-right of the collage]
Later that evening, in a Towns-Meeting that Bob was not invited. The Chief tried (once more) to rally support against Bob. Remember that Bob told him that his name was ‘I’. So, the chief stood up to speak in which he said as follows;
“ ‘I’ is dangerous to this community, ‘I’ must be driven away, ‘I’ must go back, ‘I’ will bring you and your children much trouble beyond your imagination! ”
Wow! Everyone at the Towns-Meeting could not believe their ears. They were all amazed to hear what was coming out of his mouth. They thought he was speaking in the Jamaican style (the Rasta man usually say ‘I and I’ meaning ‘myself’, or ‘me’, or ‘I Am’). Anyway, because he is using the word ‘I’ to refer to Bob, it made it look as if he was talking of himself. So the people started thinking (REASONING) and discovered that truly, the chief is the real threat and not Bob, because, his bitterness was capable of coursing disunity.
So the people brought out the Holy Bible, and some historical document (searching for a judgment and Wisdom). So they found where it was written among the Divinely reviled Lyrics of the legendary Bob Marley (and ironically Bob the-stranger, has similar name with Bob Marley the-King-of-Reggae) and the song goes like;
“Don’t you look at me so smallish and say am going back. Who are you to judge me and the life that I live. I know that I am not perfect, and that I don’t need to be, so before you point your finger, make sure your hands are clean. Judge Not! Before you judge yourself! . . . The road of life is rocky and you may stumble too, So while you talk about me, somebody else is judging YOU.”
The people of the community shouted with passion and amazement “Indeed, Bob Marley was a Prophet of JAH, case closed!”
All of a sudden, some members of the community boldly came out to accuse the chief of many wrong deeds he had committed. But, later, after the chief apologized to Bob the-stranger, the community and Bob then decided not to punish the chief because the title of the song was ‘Judge Not’
Community
comm-unity
come-unity
come-unit
come-let-us-unit
A community is the coming together of people as a whole. JAH people must unit!
He who is without sin should cast the first stone.
The images on the artwork above are 2 images or symbols – The first one is the capital letter ‘I’, while the second one is an image of a critical-down-presser-man. The image of the critical-down-presser man is standing with one of his (left)hands on his head and the other is down/OPEN (kind of shaped like a heart).
The right hand is OPEN because he has just let go of the stone of unforgiveness. Look at the expression on the hand as it expresses Freedom, Ease, Relief and OPEN-mindedness. His left hand is on his head because he has just realized that he was an hypocrite and he has no right to condemning others who are just like him. This chief reminds me of that American-religious-leader that was always fighting against guys and lesbians, only to discover that he (the religious leader) use to patronize male prostitute and uses drug. He is robbing his head today saying to himself “Oh Nooooooooo.....”
Open your eyes and look within. Before you make that decision, check YOURSELF. Love will unit us, love is open-minded and gives people ‘the benefit of a doubt’. SOME people are doing ‘wrongs’ simple because they don’t know any better. Over look other people faults and the same would be done to you.
CONCLUTION: This artwork is a secret reminder to those who knows what is means. They call it PROJECTION; you only see in others that which is already in you!
Ife’ka Terry
http://www.ifekaterry.com
