Collage and mixed media on appropriated images + Photographs
Variable dimensions
2018
The title of the work refers to the 1974 performance by German artist Joseph Beuys in New York City, I Like America and America Likes Me. Confined for three days in a gallery space with a coyote, Beuys sought to articulate a critique of the Vietnam War and the deep political and cultural divisions within the United States.
Bringing together a series of collages and photographs produced over time, the present work emerges from sustained observation of the interaction between foreign bodies and European classical art. At the same time, it constitutes an attempt to reflect on the racial and neocolonial fractures that separate contemporary European politics and its canonical ideals of beauty.
The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has argued that, although European museums present themselves as accessible to all, they remain effectively restricted to specific segments of the population. His critique addresses the class divisions that isolate art from the lived experience of most people. In light of ongoing humanitarian crises and the widespread erosion of political and ethical reference points in contemporary Europe, the work raises a pressing question: what role can art play in transforming the world today?
As art critic Ariella Aïsha Azoulay observes in Potential History, “art was the primordial terrain of imperialism,” and it continues to function as a site where power relations and social contradictions are made visible.
Bringing together a series of collages and photographs produced over time, the present work emerges from sustained observation of the interaction between foreign bodies and European classical art. At the same time, it constitutes an attempt to reflect on the racial and neocolonial fractures that separate contemporary European politics and its canonical ideals of beauty.
The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has argued that, although European museums present themselves as accessible to all, they remain effectively restricted to specific segments of the population. His critique addresses the class divisions that isolate art from the lived experience of most people. In light of ongoing humanitarian crises and the widespread erosion of political and ethical reference points in contemporary Europe, the work raises a pressing question: what role can art play in transforming the world today?
As art critic Ariella Aïsha Azoulay observes in Potential History, “art was the primordial terrain of imperialism,” and it continues to function as a site where power relations and social contradictions are made visible.
