Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas

Size: 9" x 12" (23 cm x 30 cm)

Year: 2009

Description: This piece is a mash-up of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" with the controversy surrounding Nadya Suleman, a woman who gave birth to octuplets earlier this year. The media initially treated this story as a heartwarming miracle story until they discovered a few things regarding Nadya Suleman. It turns out that she was a single mother who already had six other children--including a set of two-year-old twins and a three-year-old with autism--who were also conceived via IVF treatments. In addition, she had been living with her parents for the past several years while collecting disability benefits for a back injury she sustained on the job 10 years earlier and getting student loans so she could study for her masters degree in counseling. I saw interviews with her on NBC's "Today" show as well as videos she has made for RadarOnline.com. She seemed like she didn't have a full grasp of the reality of her situation. In addition, the videos of her home life showed her older six children being out of control with little or no discipline. She describes how she's providing a calm and loving home life while the videos show her kids running around, hitting each other, and even hitting their mother. I imagined a scenario where--at one point in the future--Nadya will finally see the reality of her situation and give a full scream just like in Munch's painting.