I just started reading today's issue (Gazette, Feb. 10) about the Silver Skate Festival and was horrified and visibly shaken upon seeing the photograph of what looked like a dog (made of wooden materials) screaming as it was being burned. What person in their right mind in this era of mental illness would even think of calling this art?? The article described it as "the burning of a fire sculpture effigy".
If I was so traumatized by this image, I am thinking of children who saw this picture or worse still, were at the festival.
What message are we sending out there when we depict images of extreme cruelty? It is bad enough that there is a flood of movies and TV shows that show extreme cruelty to people and animals and are touted as talented entertainment. Have we, as the human race, fallen so low that we can't be entertained unless there are non-human entities roaming the earth and because they have no soul or conscience, can wreak havoc on the rest of mankind? We do not need to feed the ill minds out there who are strung out on drugs, etc.
I would hope that whoever the person who thinks that they created a piece of art with this horrible fire sculpture will come forward and issue a sincere apology to everyone who was deeply offended and disturbed by this creation.
Colleen Chupka, St. Albert
