True Results of War
Faculty Mentor
Huston Fryer
Presentation Type
Creative Work
Start Date
4-13-2026 4:30 PM
End Date
4-13-2026 6:30 PM
Location
Art Building
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Art
Abstract
My artistic project is a powerful condemnation of war, born from a deep, though indirect, understanding of its true economic and human cost. While I have not personally faced frontline combat or displacement, the destruction's consequences have profoundly shaped my family and my life. This perspective, perhaps sharper than that of many who escaped its immediate impact, informs the work's core message. The piece is designed to reveal the genuine, pervasive destruction and the grim, multifaceted ramifications extending to every entity involved in a conflict. The forms are sculpted to illustrate a transition: the highest point depicts the destruction of war, moving down to the resulting consequences, and ultimately culminating in the affluent beneficiaries who accrue profits at the base. A monochromatic color palette emphasizes this dual imagery. I chose clay for its intrinsic connection to the earth and employed a smoking technique to underscore the visceral sense of war’s devastation. War is, fundamentally, a colossal, rapacious enterprise, relentlessly fueled by both human lives and continuous streams of capital. Yet, the primary architects—the industrialists, financiers, and arms dealers—are the sole beneficiaries, harvesting the entirety of the returns. They construct their empires and fortunes upon the populace's shattered livelihoods, broken mental states, and impoverished futures. I have illustrated this perpetual, unforgivable exchange: the transposition of blood and treasure into the enrichment of a select few with an image of an inverted money symbol within the piece, which emphasizes the perverse manner in which certain individuals exploit these global crises. My objective is to foster a sense of empathy for the genuine victims of war and revolution among those who derive profit from such conflicts.
Recommended Citation
Thompson, Sara, "True Results of War" (2026). 2026 Symposium. 30.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2026/cw_2026/art_2026/30
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
True Results of War
Art Building
My artistic project is a powerful condemnation of war, born from a deep, though indirect, understanding of its true economic and human cost. While I have not personally faced frontline combat or displacement, the destruction's consequences have profoundly shaped my family and my life. This perspective, perhaps sharper than that of many who escaped its immediate impact, informs the work's core message. The piece is designed to reveal the genuine, pervasive destruction and the grim, multifaceted ramifications extending to every entity involved in a conflict. The forms are sculpted to illustrate a transition: the highest point depicts the destruction of war, moving down to the resulting consequences, and ultimately culminating in the affluent beneficiaries who accrue profits at the base. A monochromatic color palette emphasizes this dual imagery. I chose clay for its intrinsic connection to the earth and employed a smoking technique to underscore the visceral sense of war’s devastation. War is, fundamentally, a colossal, rapacious enterprise, relentlessly fueled by both human lives and continuous streams of capital. Yet, the primary architects—the industrialists, financiers, and arms dealers—are the sole beneficiaries, harvesting the entirety of the returns. They construct their empires and fortunes upon the populace's shattered livelihoods, broken mental states, and impoverished futures. I have illustrated this perpetual, unforgivable exchange: the transposition of blood and treasure into the enrichment of a select few with an image of an inverted money symbol within the piece, which emphasizes the perverse manner in which certain individuals exploit these global crises. My objective is to foster a sense of empathy for the genuine victims of war and revolution among those who derive profit from such conflicts.
