Artist Judith Peck ((American, b. 1957))

State of the Union

Date2017

MediumOil on board

Dimensions30 × 24 in. (76.2 × 61 cm) Framed Size: 33 1/2 × 28 in. (85.1 × 71.1 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2020.022.2

ClassificationsPaintings

Locations

District Department of Transportation (250 M Street SE)

DescriptionIn this painting, Judith Peck includes eagle feathers falling from the sky to symbolize the current challenges to democracy in this country. She paints, however, with a universal view of human history. She aims to express that all people, in all times and places, have the same hopes and dreams, and also to convey how, despite our rifts, we might experience healing in a broken world. Peck depicts individuals with rich inner lives and compassionate personae that will activate viewers’ empathy. This relates to her belief that the human spirit always possesses hope, even in the most desperate of circumstances.