This facade caught my attention on one of my earliest trips to Laure, MS. I was captivated by those huge eagles! The boldness of the double eagles, the large scale, and the mirrored design elements caught my eye and my interest. I learned that this building, the Jones County Sheriff’s Office, was once the jail entrance, and I imagined these eagles representing justice.

In Utagawa Hiroshige’s print Crane with Poem Slip Attached to Foot, a lovely single bird is highlighted in a circle within a square. I placed the crane at the top of my composition, repeating the circle within a square, now inside the silk rectangle. To the right, another circle intersects the first, adding interest to the composition, while the staircase leads our eye to the meeting point between the two birds.

The crane still flies with a poem attached to its foot. I reimagine it here as a messenger, perhaps delivering a love note to an inmate in the jail.