A site-specific artwork removed from that site and sold off to the highest bidder.
vs
Allowing the world to see an unknown treasure.
Note: Inspired by two articles about the sale of Keith Haring’s Radiant Baby. See Jones (2022e) and Sherwood (2022) in the Online resources section of the Imaginary Art Resource List.
A pigeon lying dead in the middle of a high street. Its head nowhere to be seen, blood spurts stain the ground where the head should be.
There are no signs of a struggle, or any evidence to suggest how the pigeon came to be there in that state.
Many of the shops on the high street have been shuttered or display closing down signs, no major chains can be seen.
The skies are grey, as are the few people that trudge through the scene.
An outsider looks down, puzzled, and has an idea.
Join fragments of memories or ideas together to form one full story (or stories, or anything else you would like to create).
Discuss with others if help is needed to fill any gaps. Don't be afraid to raise your hand.
Canvas with hair (that has been cut off in protest for, and in solidarity with, the women of Iran), the fabric of removed hijabs, and the ashes of those burned in protest, have been stuck on to form the words:
See how things are now.
They were not always so.
They will not always be so.
And there will always be more to fight for.
Be brave, stand together, forever.
In all ways.
Always.
On the frame are painted the words: ““We are not scared. We are outraged. People think that we are the previous generation – that if they do this we’re going to just stop. We are not going to stop. This is a one-way road for us. They will take even more people into custody, torture them, rape them. This is not the end.” (Unknown Protestor)” and ““O, you martyr, / hold my hands / With your hands / Cut from earthly means / Hold my hands, / I am your poet. / With an inflicted body. / I’ve come to be with you / and on the promised day, / We shall rise again.” (Tahereh Saffarzadeh).” The two quotes run alongside one another, rather than one before the other.
See also:
Bromwich, Kathryn (2022) A vibrant celebration of Iranian rebel women – in pictures. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2022/sep/24/a-vibrant-celebration-of-iranian-rebel-women-in-pictures (Accessed: 10th October 2022).
Foumani, Maryam (2022) Two decades of Iranian women’s street protests – in pictures. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2022/oct/07/two-decades-of-iranian-womens-street-protests-arash-ashourinia-in-pictures (Accessed: 10th October 2022).
Hessel, Katy (2022) Guns, veils, unflinching stares: the banned work about Iran’s female rebels. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/10/veils-banned-iran-mahsa-amini-shirin-neshat-rebellious-silence (Accessed: 10th October 2022).
Jones, Jonathan (2022) Soheila Sokhanvari: Rebel Rebel review – vivacious paintings of liberated Iranian womanhood. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/07/soheila-sokhanvari-rebel-rebel-review-barbican-london (Accessed: 8th October 2022).
Your Teenage Bedroom Wall.
Recall it, recreate it in your mind.
How far from it have you strayed?
Your current wall.
How well does it represent you?
A mirror.
In it you see not your outer layer but the cloud of emotions within.
What does it look like?
Oil on canvas.
A deep ravine, its sides high, rocky and steep. Across it has been built a bridge upon which people from either side of the ravine can meet.
In the bridge are cracks but there are also people from both sides ready to plaster them, and scaffolders and builders ready in case it falls.
At the bottom of the ravine is dynamite and at the sides of the bridge are people holding burning torches.
From either side, people are making their first, tentative, steps to meet in the middle.
