Station VI: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

Mike Konopacki

Veronica was a woman of Jerusalem who, according to legend, gave Jesus her veil to wipe his face as he bore his cross to Calvary. Jesus returned it with his countenance miraculously imprinted on the fabric. In this depiction, the face imprinted on the fabric is of the Afghan taxi driver, Dilawar, an innocent man tortured and killed by US forces at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The US Army listed the official cause of death as homicide.

Dilawar was the subject of the 2007 Academy Award winning documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side. His image is screenprinted onto a faded US flag encased in a shadow box adorned with digital prints on panel. The Latin scroll reads, “We Glorify Torture.”

Mike Konopacki is a political cartoonist and illustrator. His work appears in the Madison, Wisconsin weekly, The Captial Times. His labor cartoons are syndicated nationally by Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons. Mike’s co-worker, Gary Huck, is the cartoonist for the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). Mr. Huck currently has an installation at the Mattress Factory gallery in Pittsburgh entitled, “Jesus of Nazareth Crown O’ Thorns Ring Toss Game” (2009).
Mike is the illustrator of and a co-author with Howard Zinn, Paul Buhle, Kathy Wilkes, and David Wagner of the graphic history, A People’s History of American Empire.

www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons.com