A HISTORY OF THUGS PRINT SERIES, 2004

Conceptually, this print series was an extension of visual and literary research I had been doing in regards to historical perspectives. I had finished reading Howard Zinn's 'A People's History of the United States' at the same time I was examining the prints of Theodore DeBry, a german printer who made etchings detailing encounters with Native Americans over 400 years ago. So, this print series was began as my contemporary interpretation of prominant historical figures in print form much as DeBry had done with the Native Americans.
In DeBry's work there is a real sense of witnessing 'savages' in their natural habitat, for European eyes. I approached this same idea, but was focused on documenting those who held power in the American Nation story, being informed by Zinn's accounts, for the eyes of the marginalized, the descendents of the slaves, the women without votes, the non-landowners, the mistreated workers, and the oppressed.
This extended diorama details 70 figures in American History (and 7 of the oppressed), many that we herald as brave and vanguard elements of a Democratic Nation. The title is given as 'A History of Thugs', for many of the actions of these men, upon further inspection, are base and corrupt, extensions of the power structure of the day.