By Karen Williams Smith - Doll Artist.

"Several years ago I fell in love with a picture of an ancient child that was found in the mountains of Peru. His petrified little body was discovered much as he was when he was left on that cold mountaintop. Over 500 years ago his innocent life was given as a sacrifice to the Sun God of his people. The picture touched my heart, and I knew that I would one day make a reproduction of him in doll form.

"As the years progressed I occasionally pondered my little Peruvian boy. I wondered what his short life had been like. I wondered about his parents and the society that would sacrifice the innocent. That led me to understand things haven’t changed that much over the last 500 years.

"I began to see how many of the innocent children in our own time are treated as expendable. In our modern, enlightened time we are still too willingly sacrificing the lives of children around the world. Granted, most of the atrocities to children happen in undeveloped countries. It is easy for us to turn our heads and distance ourselves from these problems. We recognize that we can not easily fix many of the injustices to children in these countries. But if we don’t activate the entire world, the children still suffer early deaths. They are sacrificed just as the child found in Peru was sacrificed. Perhaps the "God" of our reasoning is different. By "God of Successful War" or the "God of Making a Buck" we are still sacrificing the lives of innocent children.

"In our own nation we willingly sacrifice children. We make laws to protect our own beliefs. Abortion is one of the subjects debated in our courts. I believe a woman should have the "right to choose", but I disagree with some of the practices of abortion. Partial birth abortions are beyond my line. Yet, we as a nation have accepted the innocent murdering of children by this method by legalizing it in our courts.

"In many small ways, we are willing to turn our heads, and do not consider the effects of what we do on the innocent lives of children in America. Do we always buckle up? Do we never drink and drive? Are we willing to sacrifice to make sure our air and water are clean enough for future generations? Are we willing to do whatever it takes to stop child abuse in all its forms whether physical, or mental, or spiritual? Do we volunteer in our neighborhoods, towns, and counties to serve the needs of children? Are we willing to participate, or do we just vocalize, or turn our heads?

"In 1999, I was invited by Uta Brouser as one of ten doll artists to be part of a special exhibition at IDEX. Uta wanted to take the doll world a bit further than it had been by doing some art installations that pushed the envelope of the doll world.

Several years before this opportunity I had been touched by a picture of a little petrified Peruvian boy who had been sacrificed to the sun god about 500 years ago. I had wanted to do a doll of him ... I just couldn’t figure out how would fit in the doll world. Uta gave me a wonderful opportunity to do something different in a forum that was appropriate for the subject.

In the years it had actually taken me to do the doll, I thought about his society and that led to thoughts about our modern world. The piece changed in my mind. By the time it was finished I was different. I discovered a lot about my beliefs, my world, and myself. Subjects I had just not really pondered before were now very familiar. I coupled the piece with a very touching song by Kurt Bestor called The Prayer of the Children. It touched many hearts at the show. The piece is very dear to my heart and though I have had a couple of artists who wanted to trade work for it ... but I have not let it go yet it is still waiting to find a very special home ... where it can educate many people about the plight of innocent children everywhere."

Karen Williams Smith