KARMA

Acrylic on wood panel.

30x30"

An American astronaut has finally achieved humanity's great dream: landing on Mars. But instead of being welcomed as a pioneering explorer, they are greeted by aliens wearing ICE shirts.

The irony is immediate.

The joke is obvious.

The Americans have become the aliens.

The ones who don't belong.

I called the painting KARMA as a reminder that sometimes what goes around comes around.

Humour has always been one of the most effective ways to explore difficult subjects. We laugh, then we pause, then we realize the joke may not actually be funny at all.

Every day, the news cycle throws another crisis at us. The Iran war. The Israel conflict. Ukraine. Climate disasters. Trump/Epstein. Economic uncertainty.

For me, one of the stories that recently stuck was the expansion of ICE detention facilities in the United States.

History offers countless examples of societies dividing the world into categories of "us" and "them." The language changes. The politics change. The uniforms change. But the underlying instinct remains consistent.

A group is identified as different, a threat, or a burden.

And gradually, separation becomes easier to justify.

The painting imagines a future where Americans themselves become the outsiders.

Imagine the U.S. finally reaching Mars after decades of ambition, investment, and technological achievement.

Imagine stepping off the spacecraft expecting a hero's welcome.

Instead, you're met by a line of aliens who have already decided you don't belong.

The joke in the painting is that the Americans have become the aliens.

The uncomfortable question beneath the joke is much older:

How would we want to be treated if the roles were reversed?

The title, KARMA, isn't about revenge.

It's about the universal conversation around empathy.

Imagine ourselves on the receiving end of the systems we create.

Art rarely changes policy. But it can change perspective.

In a perfect world, undocumented immigrants would have basic human rights, such as access to clean water, good food, a humane place to sleep, children kept with their parents, access to fresh air and sunlight, access to medical care, and, most importantly, access to legal assistance to be justly processed through the system.

Sadly, right now, this is not happening.