ADAM JAMES K

Artist Statement 

​

Art for me is about more than just beauty. I believe the best art provokes thought and emotion; it reflects and comments on what is happening in our world. And there is an atrocity that I cannot ignore. It involves the sexual abuse of children and the abuse of power within an institution that holds itself up above such horrors - the church.

 

Children are vulnerable and innocent but once abused they can never forget the psychological, physical, and spiritual pain. These abused children have had their childhoods stolen by the paedophile priest they trusted and are never the same again.

 

Suicide, depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), addiction, alcoholism, eating disorders, self harm, intimacy problems, self esteem, homelessness, trust issues, chronic pain and shame, are just some of the problems these victims and survivors experience.

 

There is so much focus on the church and its paedophile priests but what of the children?

Through my art I want to show their pain and suffering, and try to ensure we never forget what they have been through.

We have heard about their pain but we never actually see their pain. It is hidden away, as most personal suffering is, because it is simply too much for society to acknowledge.

 

And why do priests commit sexual acts on children and then justify it to themselves? Because they can.

Both the paedophile priests, and those who protect them, share an inability to show any remorse or sympathy for their victims.

The paedophile priest truly believes that having sex with children is not immoral and convince themselves that they are not doing anything wrong and are in fact, doing God’s work.

The church has tried to cover up, ignore and discredit the victims and survivors for too long and I wanted to do something about it.

 

My goal is to create visuals that will safely connect with the viewer and hopefully make the viewer realise that children have been suffering unnecessarily. I don’t want to dance around the subject, I want to confront it head on.

 

I am angered by the abuse of children, by people in a position of power and trust.

I hate injustice and I hate seeing all of the suffering at the hands of these people.  I feel society is becoming immune and numb to these horrors that were inflicted by the church. Have we done enough for these children? I think not.

 

When Jesus said, 'Suffer the little children,' raping and torturing children was not what he had in mind.

 

Adam James K

2016.

​

​

​

​