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Jewish museum

*Television static* During Eid prayer in the capital city of Kabul two car bombings were detonated killing four people and injuring twelve.

These are the images of Afghanistan the media presents to me: Bombing here, terrorist there, U.S. troops everywhere. I can only dream for a day, when I might be see the nation of my parents with my own eyes. For now, I can only view the images of horror on my 4k plasma screen television from safety of living room couch. Martha Rosler understand the hypocrisy of being outraged by images of war while still partaking in consumerism that caused them.

The medium the artist choose was a photographic collage. In total there are three photos overlapped on each other, the Iraqi street, a women and child, and some women in a white gown. Each picture carries their own meaning. In the image of the Iraqi street, The US troops are armed; they are covered in head to toe in full combat gear holding semi-automatic rifles standing atop a tank. This would be fine if they were in the middle of a war zone, however they are just in the city streets of Iraq. There are no enemies with rifles pointed back at the troops only little boys with rainbow covered kites. The streets are filled with freighted pedestrians holding their breaths on what the troops might do.  This leads into the second image of the women and child. The positioning of this picture right in the line of fire of the tank and rifles shows the aggressiveness of the troops. They are not facing criminals only old women and children; the colors of the child and women are muted perhaps indicting some poor fate they might be subjected to. Both of these photos combined take and anti-war stance. The artist herself has proclaimed her as an activist against the US’s position in Iraq and Afghanistan. Point and shoot refers to the troops holding rifles, but as well as the third image of a tall blond women holding a camera. Her camera can take pictures of this conflict and bring it home for all to view. The women herself is an idealization of the 1960’s American sociality expectations on women: blond, tall, pin rolled hair, thin, elegant dressed, with a calm demeanor. Martha Rosler hopes to convey that we, the American public, are equitable to those out in the middle east actively creating violence by our passiveness as witness who do not take action against these war crimes. The economic and political imperialism that has to the violence in this conflict is prolonged just as much as our consumerism and complacency to not take action as anything else.

 

The medium nor the content of the image is avant garde. For an artistic piece to be avant garde it must be pushing the forefront, creating a style that has never been seen or used before. However unfortunately for this artist, Photocollages have been around as long as there has been photography. As well, political commentary on the horrors of war through the medium photography have been used since the Vietnam war. Commentary on consumerism can been seen in Andy Warhol as well as the communist manifesto. Although none of these ideas are new, doesn’t mean this piece cannot be influential. The medium used shows real word events and horrors, which wake up the public from their complacency and desensitization by the media. Hopefully it wakes us up enough to take action and not allow Martha Rosler’s work go to waste.