A Small Sign of Hope

     Hope is such a precious thing. We need it to keep on going with our lives. To have it is to have faith. Even though we believe in what we think we know, we need to believe in what we feel. When I saw this young boy with his sign at an anti-war rally, the first thing that came to my mind was that his parents told him what to write. By asking, I soon learned the contrary. Knowing that a young boy cares about the plight of another country gives me hope for our future.

     I was first drawn to the idea of photographing signs after I saw Gillian Wearing's piece: "Signs that say what you want them to say and Not signs that say what someone else wants you to say". I found it interesting how Wearing used the mediums of signs and photography to get to something that means more than just another photograph. She gave a variety of people blank pieces of paper to make their own signs and then she photographed them with their signs. Each person had something unique to say. The idea of all this is what inspired me to make my own sign. I have come to realize that my photographs are the way I express my thoughts and feelings. For this reason, I thought it only natural for my sign to be a photograph.