This is a video of Abu Ghraib torture photos.
From Art for a Change weblog in the USA:
Abu Ghraib: Botero exhibit in Berkeley
Fernando Botero’s suite of paintings and drawings depicting the torture of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of their American jailers in Abu Ghraib prison, will at last be exhibited in an American museum.
An exhibit of 24 paintings and 23 drawings by the 74 year old Columbian master, will go on view at the Doe Library, located at the University of California, Berkeley.
In September of 2006, I wrote of the difficulties Mr. Botero was having in getting his Abu Ghraib series of artworks exhibited in the United States.
Botero’s distinctive reputation as an artist notwithstanding, and despite the fact that his works had been shown in museums all across Europe – not a single museum in the U.S. offered to show his works.
Finally the Marlborough Gallery in New York became the first American venue to showcase Botero’s Abu Ghraib series with an Oct./Nov. 2006 showing – but the Berkeley exhibit will be the very first museum exhibition in the U.S.
The show is sponsored by the U.C. Berkeley Center for Latin American Studies.
The exhibit of Botero’s works will open at the U.C. Berkeley campus Doe Library, on January 29th at 6 p.m., and the show will run until March 25th, 2007.
Hours for the Doe Library exhibit are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. A map to locate the on-campus library can be found here.
Iraqi painter Nasir Thamer’s anti Abu Ghraib torture works: here.
I have not seen this exhibit. For personal reasons, I hate driving to Berkeley, but this might be the excuse I need. I have a sister in Oakland and I’m supposed to go see her next weekend. Maybe I’ll stop off in Berkeley. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
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I saw Botero’s Abu Ghraib work as part of a bigger exhibition of his art. It is good that, contrary to some other artists with established reputations, he dares to take up this subject which the powerful don’t like.
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Don’t you love it when you see such instances of “organic” repression of expression? I mean, the “insitution”–say Gallery– decides that a work of art is not fitting the mild and facile taste of the bourgeoise customer who are capable of purchasing the art, so it wouldn’t show it; the “institution”–say the office of the principal–decides that it is too risky and too controversial and is unlikely to help enrollment, so they too politely refrain from it. I commend the courage of Berkeley, for at last–after it has become fashionable to question the policies of President evil–agreeing to showcase these paintings.
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Hi naj, thanks for commenting. I agree. With the search term “Botero” you can find still much more on this subject on this blog.
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