Pencil on Dorée Paper 200 g/m2
2019 / 30×42 cm

The photograph (by Vincent J. Musi) of these rats in a cage struck my imagination: it looked to me like a good representation of the chronic state of stress afflicting many. Later on however, when I decided to make a drawing out of it, all of a sudden, I saw something else: a quite unsettling reference to what we can call eternal fascism.

The “sovereignist” rat speaks to his “people” frightening them with stories about invading strangers from other cages. He talks about the great privilege to belong to the right rats’ cage: the cage of the rats coming first and before any other rat. He only can interpret the “will” of his “people” and he only can lead them to the victory they deserve. There’s an opening in the cage’s backwall, but the “people” don’t even see it. They don’t see the alternative.