Luis Rosa-Valentin

About the Artist

I am broken. In the spring of 2008 I walked the streets of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq. I walked at the head of a parade of American and Iraqi soldiers 1,000 strong (a term referred to, in the Army, as walking point). Along that route I encountered an improvised explosive device that took both of my legs, my left arm, the sight from my left eye and all the hearing from both ears. But broken, to me, does not mean useless. Broken does not even mean less than I was before. In this same spirit I set out with oil paint and canvas, sculpture, charcoal and graphite, and I show you how broken is sometimes better.