Rachel Ungerer - Flight Climate Change

Medium
Acrylic Paint on Canvas

Description
“Fight Climate Change” is a painting of an elderly woman who marched with thousands of others at Women’s March. She holds a walking cane in each hand with her arthritic fingers. In the right corner, behind a pink wash, is a sign saying “Human Rights.” The exuberant line work celebrates her wrinkles and her age, in a style inspired by German Expressionism. This elderly woman marched for climate change. She stood shoulder to shoulder with people from various walks of life and political backgrounds to stand up against the power that oppresses them.

Describe Style and Technique
I enjoyed using gestural brush strokes while I painted to capture a dynamic fleeting moment in my paintings. This painting was inspired by a numerous photographs that I captured during Women’s March in Oakland. I marched, while in chronic pain,and I took as many pictures as I could of all of the powerful people who marched that day. I noticed that people from all different walks of life and political backgrounds were joyfully walking together. For that reason, these paintings are best viewed as a series. Only a large series of paintings can capture the multitude of voices that rose up that day. I used washes and large blocks of color to give a sense of being noticed in a large crowd.