“I break chains all by myself won’t let my freedom rot in hell”-Beyonce

Admittedly, I was absent from class and had to attend the Steven Kasher gallery on my own. To be honest, it felt weird being there by myself. I only got to hear my thoughts about each piece of work, and obviously I agreed with everything I thought. Yet, I didn’t like that. I love to disagree with people, it makes for great conversation and allows you to see another side of a piece of art that you otherwise would not have considered.

Upon seeing Jill Freedman’s photographs of Resurrection City I was dumbfounded. I had never even heard about this movement prior to attending the gallery. I was heartbroken when I saw these images. America is the land of dreams and opportunities, and these images showed the complete opposite of that idea. These images looked like they had been taken in a third world country. These images remind me of images my family would show me of their home countries, to justify their emigration.

In addition,  I really absorbed and appreciated Debi Cornwall’s work dealing with Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo Bay, or otherwise known as Gitmo has been the center of a lot of recent political debate, and it has been something I have thought about a lot on my own time. Obviously, terrorism is a major issue and it’s something that we need to prevent at all costs. Even today, the United States and Europe are still combating terrorist groups. However, there have been a multitude of individuals who were “randomly” rounded in their home countries, tortured in Gitmo, and proven to be innocent. Therefore, Guantanamo Bay becomes a base of great controversy, because how can we distinguish the innocent from the guilty?

Ironically one of Cornwall’s photographs makes it seem like Guantanamo Bay is a day care for children. In the image below, we see what appears to be an artificial turtle in the center of a kiddie pool. This looks like something we would expect to see in a child’s waterpark. I was confused as to why something like this would even be in Guantanamo Bay, it is not like the prisoners are allowed to have visitors.

Overall, I think the exhibit could not have come to New York at a better time. We currently live in a time where there is a great political divide. Both sides are so sure of themselves that they are not willing to listen and collaborate with one another, in the same way I had wanted to do with my classmates regarding the art. In addition, so many people live in an echo chamber, where they just voice their opinion to those who have the same opinion as them and because of this they think they are just and open minded. However, in order to be truly open minded one must consider ALL viewpoints, not just the ones you agree with, and that goes for both sides of the political spectrum.