I did this collage after thinking about Sisyphus and the boulder: about what would happen when Sisyphus is gone; when only the stone remains in Tartarus; when Hades, unmoving, leaves it as is and the newly condemned come upon it. Remade this collage thinking, how does one imagine Sisyphus once the rock rolls him over?

"The essay entitled The Myth of Sisyphus came out the year Camus published The Stranger--both are part of the "Cycle of the Absurd." The Myth also challenges lethal justice, this time theoretically. Camus calls "absurd" the discrepancy between our desire for meaning and the 'unreasonable silence of the world', as well as our awareness of this discrepancy. Yet the 'Absurd' is but a starting point for the writer. What he prescribes in the face of this discouraging reality is to embrace life and action despite a lack of meaning and despite our certain death. Within this metaphysical framework that insists on our liberty and need for courage regardless of man's tragic condition, capital punishment stands as an extreme example of the Absurd. It is, in Camus' words, a case of 'pure despair.'

"Camus insisted that language blocks our understanding of the reality of capital punishment--enforced by the guillotine, firing squads, the noose or other modes of killing--and thereby leads us to accept passively or to support actively executions...there is a revealing passage:

"'Don't let them tell us any stories. Don't let them say about the man condemned to death: "He is going to pay his debt to society," but: "They're going to chop his head off." It may seem like nothing. But it does make a little difference.'"

- "To Kill a Human Being: Camus and Capital Punishment" by Eve Morisi