“Cry Uncle” an expression used by bullies to demand submission of the other,
is the title of this 23-page accordion fold book, a graphic response to man’s inhumanity to man in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and Bagram. 

In 2009, I wrote, designed and illustrated “Cry Uncle,” which begins in the Orwellian “Ministry of Love,” “where they had ways to make you talk.”

A canvas sack holds a portfolio covered with thin, creased, fragile-looking Nepalese paper resembling human skin. 11 images carved from 18” x 24” linoleum blocks, and the larger letterpress text from old wooden letters, were printed on translucent, handmade Japanese paper, allowing the viewer to glimpse the shadow image of what came before. Unfolded, the book is over 40 feet long. When the book is unfolded, it is over 40 feet long.

My work focuses on telling stories in pictures.  Political subject matter, not only to protest and document, intrigues me as an exploration of human nature.

The way type looks and sounds as it becomes a character’s voice interests me, as well as how language changes meaning by modifying scale or font.

The zippered red mouth on the sack that holds the book is the beginning and end of the story; the torturer’s lips are sealed.