The Helsman

Description:	wood engraving and letterpress. Edition of 18. ‘The Helmsman’ came from a need to address a dark aspect of human nature that underpins the cruelty and terror that people regularly visit upon each other. The specific questions of “why” and “how” elicited by the horrors of the Al-Mutanabbi Street bombing gave way to the universal “why” and “how” do some of us develop a cold, disconnected condition in which the end justifies any, and all means.‘The Helmsman’ presents itself as a kind of promotional flier or advertising poster. The dark humor of the piece is not intended to defame anyone, any group, of product. I, in fact, deliberately turned the trademark symbol upside down in case there actually is something trademarked under that name.The flier is a solicitation aimed at the weak, lazy, and frightened portion of the human psyche that wants no part of difficult moral and ethical deliberations. It seeks out the simplified zone of absolutes, the realm of moral and ideological certitude. Though we may all recognize the urge to reach for ‘The Helmsman’, it is my sincere hop that we keep our hands on the wheel, our sails filled with compassion, our eyes, ears, and hearts open to the commonality of man.
Origin:	2015
Created By:	Sandstrom, Anders
Contributor(s):	Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition
Publisher:	(Indianapolis, IN, USA)
Source:	http://iuidigital.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/AMSSH/id/1489
Collection:	Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition Collection
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Copyright:	In Copyright
Subjects:	artists book art bookworks prints

Further information on this record can be found at its source.