Best of PRSG 97
On The World Wide Web




Leitha L. Thrall

Hope Held Hostage
© 1996
(H: 16", W: 6", D: 8" bronze)
This bronze sculpture is one in a series of "Babies and Bullets." Babies and bullets do not belong together, but I see the two paths constantly being crossed. I create pieces that relate to these observations: a vulnerable child contrarily placed with implements of war. These elements of death produced consciously by the same world which creates life in its innocence.

HOPE HELD HOSTAGE shows a cage of bullets that sits heavy on top of a globe. Held inside the cage is a baby that is connected to an umbilical cord that reaches out of the cage and blossoms into a rose. The child is hope; mankind places its hope in children to help make a better world. The bullets symbolize violence, wars, etc. and surrounds the child. The rose and its leaves extend out of that cage showing that if a person can reach beyond all the hate and destruction in the world, there can be beauty and love. With the umbilical cord though, it is shown that it must come from within. There is always hope, and hope can fluorish despite what we have surrounding us.