Exhibit explores media, politics, public apathy

09/15/05 - There are many unresolved issues regarding Sept. 11, especially the media's approach and the actions America took following the event. Mark Hinchliffe, a senior double major in philosophy and economics at the University of Rhode Island, has addressed these issues with his honors project, a political cartoon with a fictional story worked in.

"I AM erica (reflections on an amnesic)" consists of 15 cartoon panels and is an in-depth study of the media portrayal of Sept. 11 and the following events, the government's attitude throughout and the public's misinformed opinions.

"We live in a world where there is more and more information and less and less meaning," Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher quoted on a panel, said.

A multitude of tactics is employed throughout the panels, from a depiction of the magnetic ribbons for cars to a metaphoric apology note from the U.S. to Iraq.

The fictional part of the project consists of Erica, a girl who was attacked on Sept. 11. Her attack is analogous to America going to war with Afghanistan and then Iraq, when the terrorists were Saudis, Hinchliffe said.

Erica does not remember what happened when she was attacked, and only knows what she is told of the day, hearing the details of the Twin Towers over and over again.

The project warns against public apathy: "But the TV looks so inviting," Erica's story concludes, with the implied fear that ours will end the same way.

"We were attacking the wrong people," Hinchliffe said.

It was "people who had a history with us as an enemy," which made it acceptable to the public even though there was no connection, he continued.

"Sept. 11 was my first week of freshman year, and I remember watching the towers fall one hundred times on TV," Hinchliffe said. "It desensitized me. Those feelings stayed with me these four years."

He added, "As I took philosophy and media classes, it came to me that I needed to get out my own opinions."

"Iraqi freedom cannot be understood by placing the word 'operation' in front of it. Rather, the Iraqi people and the freedom they demand are parts of an intricate philosophical system," one panel reads.

The project "lets the work speak for itself," said Cheryl Foster, a URI philosophy professor. His division of space forces you to look closely and think about it, she said of the abstractly placed 15 panels.

"I've always been interested in drawing, so that seemed like the right medium for me," Hinchliffe said.

The cartoon style fit with the event itself, with all of its bizarre connotations. "I liked the idea of doing it in black and white, that's how it seemed that people's views were on it," Hinchliffe said.

Foster said, the work is "literally very edgy and geometric."

"Mark's work is technically astute and very accomplished," and "his very humility allows him to see the issues he is looking at," Foster said.

"I AM erica" will be on exhibit at Lippitt Hall all semester. Hinchliffe has gotten many positive responses from other cartoonists, Foster said.

There will be a gallery talk sometime in October, in conjunction with an art auction for relief funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Though the auction is still in the early stages, Hinchliffe would like URI students involved, as well as local artists from around the state. As many different mediums as possible will be showcased.