Fri 4/4 @ 5-9PM

It was obvious, when 20 first-graders (along with six teachers and staff members) were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, in December 2012 — 20 white, affluent first graders — and nothing changed, that there was no will in the United States to address its obscene epidemic of shootings and its absurd love affair with weapons of death, especially the type of semi-automatic weapon used in that shooting. It’s a subject that evokes sorrow, despair and rage in addressing those who have a love affair with the Second Amendment but trample on the First Amendment.

One artist addressing the feelings evoked by this needless death is Clevelander Eileen Woods, whose portraits of people killed by gun violence will go on view in a show called Death by Gun, opening at the Pinwheels Gallery in Old Brooklyn, Friday April 4. It features 100 4” x 4” wood-burned, hand-embroidered and Prismacolor portraits of victims as well as two large portraits of toddler-victims.

It’s an extension of the decades she’s spent exploring themes of memory and mortality.

“I have watched, grieved, and waited for meaningful action on gun control,” she says, speaking for many of us. “Children have been intentionally or accidentally killing themselves or others. Individuals with mental illnesses or driven by racist ideologies have committed mass murders. Young people on the streets have sought revenge. It is a tragic and all-too-familiar story, one that has been thoroughly documented. I recognize that I cannot stop this epidemic, especially when even electing sympathetic legislators often proves ineffective. What I can do is document the tragedy in my own way, shedding light on the victims of gun violence in a deeply personal manner.”

The show will open with a free public reception; Woods will be at the gallery from 5:30-8pm. The show will be on view through Friday, April 25th. Go here for more information.