Llore por tus hijas, Guatemala! [Cry for your daughters, Guatemala!]

This painting was one of 39 exhibits for the 2006 Sarasota Bayfront "Embracing Our Differences." It was inspired by two photographs in Amnesty International magazine, Fall 2005, cover story: "A Maya[n] woman in Guatemala, where an epidemic of violence against women has claimed the lives of some 1,600 women since 2001," cover photo by Jeremy Horner/Panos Pictures combined with photo page 19, credit AFP/Getty Images, caption: "Yuri Moreira cries at the feet of his dead daughter, found strangled on the outskirts of Guatemala City," and with original landscape to represent the Guatemalan Sierra Madre.

According to the article which inspired this painting, "Unrelenting Danger," by Laura E. Asturias and Virginia del Aguila, the generation of children raised in Guatemala during the military atrocities of the 36-year-long civil war, which ended nine years ago, has made too many abused children become abusive adults. We see this recurring throughout the planet, in Africa, the Middle East, and South and Central America, on a social or tribal scale, but as individual criminal acts in the industrialized countries, too. Stop the killing violence and atrocities because they spawn the next generation of perpetrators among the victims.

Knowing this strange fact -- that some victims choose to identify with the power of their abusers -- can break the cycle. The archetypal myth young men live by is the hero who protects and defends the tribe. It becomes criminal and cowardly, but can still be seen as powerful and be approved by their own social group. That is the kind of social code that ultimately destroys the whole tribe through decadence. The greater society can only heal the trauma by harnessing the hero to their honor and duty to protect the powerless; and that is the true power they must realize.

My principal interest is in why civilizations rise and fall, and how culture first inspires and then blocks the fulfillment of citizens and brings about this cycle. Natural selection may happen from random mutations, but at our human level of consciousness, we can choose whether to allow the mutation that favors abusive power for the survival of the fittest, but not of the best. The abuse of Physical Power -- including money -- gives a short-term survival advantage that puts our whole species at risk of going extinct. When a culture brings about the phenomenon of a species dividing against itself along the line of sexual reproduction, then it is a killing mutation. 28 X 36 " or 70 X 90 cms. Note that the size-ratio is 4:5

Please indicate on your order your choice of canvas or watercolor archival paper for your giclée print. Full refund except $20.00 shipping. insurance, and handling, if returned undamaged within two weeks of my mailing to you. Please allow me three weeks to mail due to my printer's schedule; you will receive an email upon receipt of your order and another when the giclée is mailed to you. All are accompanied by a Provenance (certificate of authenticity) signed by the artist to the new owner's (or your) name.

Giclée Prices

Limited-Edition Sizes



7” (17.5 cm.) X 9” (22.5 cm.) $75.00 unlimited
(bevel-cut mat)
18” (45 cm.) x 14” (35 cm.) $210.00 900 copies in edition
26” (65 cm.) x 20” (50 cm.) $395.00 500 copies in edition
36” (90 cm.) x 28” (70 cm.) $795.00 350 copies in edition

Your Price at check-out is 25 percent off the gallery prices listed in the table above because you are ordering direct from the artist, Michelle Christides, and the giclées are mailed in tubes, unmounted and unframed.

Please Click to Order your Giclée of the original oil painting, "Llore por tus Hijas, Guatemala, Cry for your Daughters" by Christides

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