Station XII: Jesus Dies on the Cross

Mike Konopacki

The most iconic of the shocking Abu Ghraib prison photos is of an Iraqi standing on a ration box with a sandbag over his head and an old threadbare blanket covering his body. Electric wires are attached to his outstretched fingers. This photo and many others depicting torture and humiliation were exposed by “60 Minutes” and published in the New Yorker with an article by Seymour Hersh.

My painting mimics the Christian icons of the late Middle Ages that glorified the execution of Christ. Images of torture and death were used by the Church to evoke piety in the viewer and sympathy for the dying Savior. My Christ figure is depicted as a Byzantine icon, glorified with ornate robes, but the tortured “thieves” on each side resemble those of Medieval art.

In truth, the “man on the box” was not killed at Abu Ghraib, but many Iraqis — both guilty and innocent — were tortured and killed for the salvation of American Empire.

Mike Konopacki is also the artist of Station VI.

www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons.com