Battle Standards

“Cry ‘havoc’! And let slip the dogs of war."

This is the third artwork in my “Dog Envy” political series.

The greyhounds are trotting off to Iran with their kalashnikovs, since there were no WMDs in Iraq. Dogs are loyal but they are still hunters deep in their wild hearts.

The colors and design are based on the flags of the United States, Iraq, and Iran. There are echos of red state - blue state symbolism there as well.

Text over Iran: Allahu Akbar (God is Great - appears in Arabic on Iran and Iraq’s flags)
Text over U.S.: Bush is Great
Text everywhere else: God Help Us

My apologies to Alaska and Hawaii for not including them in the map.

• 21” H x 34" W
• Cotton fabric, acrylic paint, marker
• Appliqued, stamped, stenciled
• Machine quilted.

Details

After the 2004 presidential election, I looked at my greyhound Gold Dust, lying on the floor in the sun, and was envious of his obliviousness. That moment initiated a long series of politically-inspired quilts. Gold Dust became my ‘everyman’, the average citizen, a common patriot.

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,
— Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue —
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter’d with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

William Shakespeare, from Julius Caesar