Scorned by Their Own Creation was created for the 2021 Benjamin V. Cohen Peace Conference and depicts a group of farmers baling hay while a city looms in the background. I want to represent my community for this artwork and address an observation I’ve made. Despite being the builders of society, farmers are often seen as less than their urban neighbors. I wonder where the idea of farmers being unimportant began and hope that someday that idea can be changed. I want to make the viewer realize that farming indirectly builds cities with the hay bales turning into buildings on the wagon. The city almost seems to be encroaching on the field, addressing the expansion of urbanization at the expense of arable land. The farmers notice none of this, only focused on the task at hand and unsurprised by the changing world they are creating.
