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Robin Harris

introduction

So what happened? The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was Adopted by the United Nations on December 10th 1948 with a call that all member countries widely disseminate them — hopes for freedoms rising from bitter ashes.

In this our land the Rights are available, available but unknown. The Rights are a Declaration not a Treaty — they are to be aspired to — aspiration needs the knowledge of its goal.

These pictures are my portrayal of the 30 articles which form the Rights, there is no claim for them being the Rights Truths — the best at this time I can do. To make pertinent the sense of the Rights I had to show many broken, it is difficult to image say the Right against false arrest by it being kept. As I progressed I felt less and less interest in the purveyors of tyranny especially the pawns, the Rights calling for people's responsibilities and cooperation appealed more.

Some of the images spring from specific instances and events; thus article No 4 deals with the debt bondage system widely practised in India. Article No 6 deals with "The Disappeared" in Argentina. If you agree with how I have represented the Rights that's good, if you disagree that is also good, your disagreement should be based on a clearer understanding of the meaning of the Declaration.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a worthless piece of paper; only when its meaning is striven for by people does it truly exist.

Robin Harris
20 September 1987
reprinted January 2000

^materials
Paper is 'Fabriano Hot Press M191F'
Paints are Acrylic, pure pigment + gum arabic + precipitate chalk + glycerine + distilled water
Acrylic gel medium
A tiny amount of oils here and there, and some collage
Article 6 only: burnt paper