After going to a variety of beautiful, interesting, and complicated museums/exhibits this year, I left each museum/exhibit trying to look for an overall theme and message to take away from my experience. With ISIS, Hamas and other terrorist organizations killing innocent people every day, I get frustrated with the lack of exposure and discussion. Thus, I decided to make an art exhibit to discuss and expose these matters. One may ask me, an art exhibit is usually aesthetically pleasing and happy, why are you exposing and educating viewers on how to deal with terrorism through art? The reason I choose to express this message through art is because art can be constructive but also destructive. A burnt piece of the world trade center can be meaningless to one viewer and cause immense sensual arousal differently to another. Thus, the artworks are supposed to emphasize the horrors and create a greater emotional impact. My exhibit on Terrorism, brings their viewers on an emotional rollercoaster. In the first section of the museum it shows terror, making people scared and sad (second section) and then leaving the viewers with a sense of hope and nationalism (third section). Each picture, sculpture, carving etc. has a different meaning and shows a different event. Many of the artworks are demonstrated through photographs. I purposely decided to have majority of my art as photographs because the most popular method of Terrorism is exposed through photographs on the media. Photographs are real pictures and primary sources for the events. Photographs scare their viewers more than a painting does.
Additionally, upon entering the first section and last section of the exhibit the national anthem will be played. The reason for this is that during the tragic and prosperous times we are still a strong nation that care and will fight for justice. Also, the exhibit purposely ends with the national anthem leading to the exit so that people feel nationalist and contribute to the victims of the most recent terrorist attacks. It is hard not to donate to the cause after going through a whole exhibit seeing their horrors and learning how to prevent future terrorist attacks.
Thus, the overarching goal for the exhibit is, through art to educate people on the contemporary topic of terrorism serving as a memorial of those who were innocently killed and, most importantly, serving as an experience for how us viewers can respond healthy and prevent future terrorism.
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