Created in 2004 in response to America's election of George Bush in which 49% of voters did NOT vote for him. This is a collection of photos from people around the world
Hearing these people's thoughts and opinions is something very personal. I relate to it a lot more than TV broadcasts of elections and there is a sincereness in what they say that makes me feel bad having judged all Americans to be like George Bush. Weather the text is hand written or not, the inclusion of a photograph succeeds in creating a very personal and heartfelt tone. I think this is a very sucessful work, even if it was not ment to be artwork as such... it changed my opinions and made me feel embarassed for never wanting to travel to America and believing what I am fed by the media about Americans.
This reminds me of Shelley's project with the golden keys. Random acts of kindness, little positive notes and gifts left around for people to find. I looked at this as a concept in project drawing earlier in the year, but I find it a little cliche saying things like;
'you are beautiful'
'the sun is shining for you'
They are quite nice but have no depth. When trying to write something profound you end up sounding like a cheap wall plaque, cafe art, or scrapbooking paraphenalia; peace, love, nature, forever, life. It's just subverting the traditional 'fuck you' vivided on to a school bus seat or a toilet wall. Putting my work, my text in a public place would be like graffitti. I haven't researched this at all but should think about the impact of text in a public space if this is where I am to display my artwork.
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