Meeting Mr. Mugabe

This was a piece that I created after learning about the diamond industry and some of its ruthless practices. In it, an owner of a mine sits in his beautifully decorated office, preparing for a meeting with a potential customer. While the owner is thrilled to profit from the sale of the diamond, the blackness of the mines, shown in the top of the painting, is filled with the spirits of dead miners. I painted a central orange streak to represent the light that enters a mine exposing evil deeds. At the top of the painting I used red to show the blood of the miners that was spilled to find the diamonds. I painted over most of the red with black to signify the desire of the mining company to cover up their evil actions. On the top of the owner’s head sits a diamond – that has drops of blood on it, because it is a "blood diamond." The piece is entitled, “Meeting Mr. Mugabe” named after the Zimbabwe dictator who took over his country’s diamond mines to personally profit from them.

Size: 48x72