The Statue of Liberty

Lady Liberty displayed so proudly by New York Harbor looks upon America with disdain. This painting is an expression of what she has been reduced to in a world void of integrity. Lady Liberty’s torch is held above all else, lighting the way to freedom in democracy, but in reality, this is a failed promise. Decision makers are puppeteered by greed, and we by their whim, hence the flames aground. The ignited string, becoming ash in her very hand, is a representation of a weak relationship with democracy, a dilapidated system. What transgressions society permits in the name of preservation of democracy- all that we preserve is psychological tyranny. Lady Liberty holds a tablet inscribed the date of the United State's Declaration of Independence. In the painting, it has been reinterpreted as a light- the icon for knowledge, veiled because America is built upon falsehoods. Predatory fees and taxations, subtle demeaning of skepticism, destitution medicated with merchandise or entertainment, are all forms of psychological conditioning that drive us to construct a personalized cell. At the foot of the painting, the American Bald Eagle depicted valiantly on the government crest, lies dead, punctured by its own steel arrow, and in its talon, the vanquished olive branch. It is contradictory for the two to coexist. Lady Liberty’s toga is now veiled overhead, she is ensnared. What we have is the privilege to decorate our prisons with semblances of liberty but it remains an illusion. I choose to acknowledge the ugly truth, to expose the reality of our world. "The Statue of Liberty" should inspire a profound reexamination of our milieu.

Eden Huguet Lee