Organized force alone enables the quiet and the weak to go about their business and to sleep securely in their beds, safe from the violent without or within, 2021
Single channel ultra high definition Video
Artists mannequin, burqa, pink acrylic paint
Artists mannequin, burqa, pink acrylic paint
Variable
Duration 2m 54 s
Duration 2m 54 s
Edition of 3 plus 2 AP
Copyright The Artist
Further images
A solitary figure sits in a wooden boat with a pink balloon floating beside her. She is dressed in the traditional Afghan Burqa but does not wear it in the...
A solitary figure sits in a wooden boat with a pink balloon floating beside her. She is dressed in the traditional Afghan Burqa but does not wear it in the prescribed way. Her eyes are covered but we can see the lower portion of her face, her torso and her legs. Rather than impose a forced modesty on this women the very fact that she half covered enhances her allure. The pink bubble gum, an iconic American trope, adds to the sexualised nature of the figure, our eyes are drawn to her mouth and lips, highlighting the very thing that oppressive regimes wish to cover.
Although this women sits in silence we can hear voices. The first is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifying before Congress in April 2009 in relation to the situation in Pakistan and the Obama administration's strategy there and in Afghanistan. The second is Joe Biden in July 2021 addressing reporters about the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan after almost 20 years of occupation. The vocabulary and tone are markedly different, Clinton is impassioned and full of urgency, Biden on the other hand is evasive and dismissive.
Rezaei has added a female figure dressed in a Burqa to physically inhabit the space with the viewer. She is holding a typed note, a pink balloon and has pink paint poured on her head. By adding this physical presence Rezaei underlines that point that real people's lives are at stake, the fact that this figure is an artist's mannequin reminds us of how easily the terrible events unfolding become dehumanized.
Although this women sits in silence we can hear voices. The first is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifying before Congress in April 2009 in relation to the situation in Pakistan and the Obama administration's strategy there and in Afghanistan. The second is Joe Biden in July 2021 addressing reporters about the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan after almost 20 years of occupation. The vocabulary and tone are markedly different, Clinton is impassioned and full of urgency, Biden on the other hand is evasive and dismissive.
Rezaei has added a female figure dressed in a Burqa to physically inhabit the space with the viewer. She is holding a typed note, a pink balloon and has pink paint poured on her head. By adding this physical presence Rezaei underlines that point that real people's lives are at stake, the fact that this figure is an artist's mannequin reminds us of how easily the terrible events unfolding become dehumanized.