With regards to photomontage It makes me think of work such as that of El Lissitzky and certainly of politically motivated work. For my own piece I wanted to bring attention to the current campaign of Donal Trump who’s racism anti Muslim anti Mexican campaign. Referring also to the difficulties in europe surrounding refugees and the debate around letting them in how many and if we can afford it. I am not sure how many issues can be include in one image without it being too complicated however if we compare the current policy of Angela Merkel allowing in so many refugees to not so long ago when Berlin was divided from east to west. Things have changed however the world seems at this moment more inclined to build walls then to tear them down. Politics are becoming more extreme with the rise of Nazis again seen in pars of europe and extremists gaining political popularity all over europe.
2004, photomontage from Martha Rosler’s “Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful, New Series.”
See article at wmagazine
While reading ‘after photography’ by Fred Ritchin. I came across Polish artist Zbigniew Libea. An artist who has used other famous photographs and restaged them with a seeming happy ending. An example of her image ‘Nepal 2003. which has obvious links to the picture of the Vietnames girl fleeing from a napalm attack photographed originally by Nick Ut. Libya has taken famous images from the media that he remembers from his own childhood and restaged them in a happier version. He is challenging our notion of historical images and how we try to now recall them as having a happy ending for example the contentions camp images. Concentration camps no longer existing in Poland and Germany however the exist in other parts of the world and even worse attrocities. Look at the refugees fleeing from Syria today. They are fleeing similar and worse situations. Agreements have been made to send many of them to Turkey, many of them die along the way. Is this situation better. How will it be remembered in the future. We choose to remember history as we please. It is part of our survival mechanism. Interesting to consider for this project. A successful image for me can create a discussion and leave the door open to a change of point of view this is an interesting series.
http://raster.art.pl/gallery/artists/libera/libera_pozytywy.htm
John Heartfield
Found images.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
I had finished this project and while reading on through Photography: A cultural history, Mary Warner Marien. I came across the artist Daniela Rossell I had seen her work before and find it intriguing however there was a also a mention as to how the Mexican economy collapses, brought on by global capitalism and also by the North American Free Trade Agreement which came into effect in 1994.
digitalimageandculture 