CondemNation
Kristin Casaletto
Grand Rapids, Michigan
CondemNation, 2007
India Ink, charcoal, mixed media on paper
In 1992, the year The Creativity Movement re-issued The White Man’s Bible and Nature’s Eternal Religion, 11 hate crimes were reported in Montana. I re-made 11 pages from the books using art materials to negate the texts which help spur hate crimes while simultaneously paying tribute to the 11 hate crime victims. Each page represents one of the hate crime victims. Statistical listings record those victims to have been African American, Native American, Jewish, white, and religious. In short, they represent the diversity of America, and the crimes against them, committed simply because of ethnicity, race, or belief.
Bio
Kristin Casaletto earned a Bachelor of Science in physics and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing from Ball State University. She worked in painting conservation at the National Gallery of Art(NGA) in Washington D.C., contributing scientific examinations of art objects to numerous NGA catalogue publications. Casaletto has traveled in Europe and Asia and worked as a freelance writer and art critic before earning a Master of Arts in art history from Michigan State University (with one year at Universita’ di Firenze in Italy) and a Master of Fine Arts in painting with minor emphasis in printmaking from Western Michigan University. She recently retired fromthe Department of Art at Augusta State University where she taught printmaking, drawing, and World Humanities.