Mother Earth

Mother Earth
38x28

To me, this is my most important painting. I painted it 20 years ago when my college-age middle son was stricken with Schizophrenia and was hospitalized for a long time and not allowed visitors. Broken bones can be mended, but a broken mind is a permanent loss. This painting is an expressionistic portrayal of a mother facing the great loss of her child. She is feeling frightened and powerless at the prospects of the future.

Today new medications exists for major mental illness, thanks to modern research, that remove most of the symptoms of thought disorders. However, there remains in the world much ignorance and stigma about mental illness. For example, too much Dopamine (a neurotransmitter chemical in the brain) produces symptoms of thought disorders and is labeled Schizophrenia (incidentally, nothing to do with ‘dual personality’). While not enough dopamine causes symptoms of muscle weakness and is called Parkinson's Disease. Both are really neuro-physical brain disorders. But the media, the insurance industry and the public discriminate against one, and offer unlimited help and understanding to the other. This painting belongs in a public collection where it can be shared.

Size: 38”x 28”
Oil on Canvas

Previous Page | Home Page