Silent Witness

May 9, 2026

A black and white illustration wheat pasted on a traffic pole base showing a religious woman holding a cross and a hand gun draped in the American flag. There is a halo around her head and a skull at her feet. She stands on a pedestal which has the word, "America" carved into it.

Found this beautiful old paste up from Dylan Egon that strikes so many chords with me. Which chords? It’s black and white with simple, clean lines. It’s full of small symbolic details that many will not understand. It’s political and cultural. It’s provocative, but the edge is offset by her calm expression. The Latin on the gun seems to have gotten overlapped when the sheet was applied, but it reads, “silentium est aureum” or “silence is golden”. This is a piece I wish I had drawn and now, I wish was on my wall.

Based on the handwritten graffiti, it also strikes a reaction in others as well.

Midtown, Manhattan.