The boy in the ghetto was inspired by a photo of a young boy who was arrested in the Warsaw ghetto in 1943. 

The eyes are especially significant. They face us with fear and humiliation perpetrated by the aggressors. This sums up the genocide and repression of people that has gone on throughout recorded history and continues today.

The victors in war often think that genocide will help them achieve world peace and domination. Many have made this their goal and continue to do so. The painting carries the names of some of the concentration camps and  places that have witnessed this attempt to eliminate the “others” who are different and threaten us by their very existence..... names from Nazi Europe, from Stalinist Russia, North Korea, Rwanda, the Balkans..... to which we can add others in 2021...Nigeria, Iraq, Syria, China......  Peace can only come as we respect the rights of others and have compassion and love for them as Jesus did.