Oil Pastel and pencil

10” x 10"

2024

What resembles a mosaic of tiles, this oil pastel is comprised of 100 squares, each single square representing 1% of the global population.  The Green color represents the Muslim global population, Purple, Christians, and the Blue, global Jewry.  Within the confines of this ten inch square, one can see the amount of space each group occupies. The blue is approximately 1/5th of 1%, as Jews are only 0.2% of humanity, while Christianity and Islam combined represent over 45% of the population.

While Christianity and Islam are universalizing religions comprised of members from every nationality and race, Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people.

While looking at the 10” Square representing everyone on planet Earth, feel free to ponder these questions for each of the the three highlighted groups:

• How did the Purple and Green squares become so big?  Why do many of them speak the same language such as speak Arabic, Spanish, English or French.  Did they become part of the Green or Purple groups through choice, coercion, or what we call today, colonization or imperialism?

• For the blue section, how would you describe a group that size?

• How do you think a people occupying this sliver of space would change their behavior in society as a group or individually in non-Blue majority societies. 

• What factors led to the Blue group to occupy such as small space?