My name is Larry Bonds. I design and layout all of the pages that happen to be in your hands at the moment. Anyone who knows me understands that I have a unique sense of humor. I like to push buttons. I like to make people think.
Apparently I seem to have made a lot of people think. In issue 4 of I-Witness, I designed a cover which depicted several people with crutches crawling up the stairs of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Many people have asked me what the picture on the cover meant. I was content to let people think what they wanted, giving them vague answers whenever I was asked. I feel that art really doesn’t have a true meaning. Whatever you get out of it is what you get out of it.
Everything
was fine until we received an e-mail or a letter (whatever it was) that simply
read “Interesting picture!” I personally took it as a compliment until it was
brought to my attention that many people did not get the meaning of the cover.
It still wasn’t a problem. As far as I was concerned I had accomplished my goal
without being too subversive. Unfortunately, the cover started to draw the ire
of some within the commission to the point where a mild controversy began. So I
have finally decided to break my silence concerning the cover.
If you haven’t noticed already, each issue has a certain theme. Issue 3 featured a back to school theme; issue 4 featured a political theme. At the time of the issue’s release, George W. Bush had been re-elected as President of the United States. In my mind, I felt that with the re-election of Bush, many people (especially the disabled) were not clear on his policy concerning people with disabilities. The cover is actually urging people who weren’t clear on Bush policies to do the research or write their congressman so that they could become better enlightened. So everyone can relax. There aren’t any hidden messages, satanic verses or subversive images that can be detected (so far). If I do anything in the future that you just don’t get, all you have to do is pick up a pen and start writing.
