Evil In The Name Of Peace

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I don't normally go into this much detail about a piece, but given the nature of this artwork I feel it is necessary to avoid any misunderstanding so that I don't receive any kind of grief from anyone who looks at this the wrong way.

I have refrained from showing this picture at the request of my family due to their fear that something may happen to me as a consequence. After much consideration, however, I feel that I am being a coward by essentially censoring myself and giving in to such pressure. I fully understand why people are going to dislike this image; the subject matter is more than a little sensitive, which is why I am going to take the time to explain exactly what this image represents.

What is depicted is very clear; a victim in an orange jumpsuit about to be executed by the embodiment of death, the Grim Reaper. This is something we have seen a lot of recently. He holds a scythe fitted with a blade depicting a star and crescent moon, a symbol of Islam.

My main concern is that people are going to immediately assume that I am an Islamophobe as a result of this depiction, but that is completely not the case. Before posting this, I spoke with a friend (who happens to be Muslim) and they felt that the image was not offensive to Islam in any way and understood what I was trying to get across. That conversation is the only reason that I have posted.

Personally I am not remotely religious. I take the stance of "to each their own" and have for many years. If people believe in something I won't tell them it is wrong just because I don't personnaly agree with them. This is why we as humans have free will. What bothers me, however, is when people use their beliefs to justify barbaric acts that inflict pain, death and destruction on others. This image represents groups such as the Taliban, Boko Haram, and more specifically, Islamic State, and the despicable things that they do in the name of religion; beheading people, pushing gays from tall buildings to their deaths and stoning them if they survive, shooting people who cannot recite from the Koran, burning people alive, and destroying relics from history simply because they do not reflect their beliefs and ideals.

The actions of extremists is a real problem in our world, and one that genuinely frightens me. The fact that people can behave the way that they do based solely on the interpretation of a text written so long ago by other people unsettles me tremendously.

I am fully aware that the groups I have mentioned are only a small minority and are not considered representative of the Islam faith, which I understand is a religion of peace at heart, hence the title. It doesn't alter the fact that these groups are committing deplorable, evil acts in the name of religion. There are arguments that it is down to other things as well, such as oil and territory etc. but the foundations of their motives as they have verbalised is down to their interpretation of Islam. That is what this image is about.

One might argue that art is about interpretation just so that they can stress different meanings that might depict me in a negative way. As the creator of this image, what I have explained above is the only interpretation, in my opinion. I have not created this to glorify the actions of those mentioned nor am I intent on turning people against Muslims or the teachings of Islam, or any other religion for that matter. I am showing things for how I have seen them, as I feel that this kind of despicable behaviour needs to stop.