Political Image (ZK)

I took this shot of my aunt and dad a few months ago. Normally, I don't consider my visual interests to be overly political, and I never took this to be a slanted shot. Aside from the humor, there is something in the picture that represents a symbol of how we view our problems. We the viewer can see that my dad is deeply enjoying his nap, and the threat of it ending might be the last thing on his dreaming mind. However, life is so much more ambiguous and complex than a simple nap. The water which will momentarily wake him up, can be read as a symbol for the types problems that arise when we least expect them. A quote from the famous "Sunscreen Speech" says that "the real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday." While ending my dad's nap is not a real trouble, I think it does put into perspective how little we can sense what is coming up next.

Political Image (BD)

HIV/AIDS is a topic that is very important to me. It is a subject that makes me incredibly sad, as well as intensely angry. Even though I come from a tiny farm community in Ohio, I have lost many many friends to this disease and the number of people I know still living with this infection makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it.

This piece was inspired by a situation that transpired shortly before I moved to New York. One night, while sitting in my apartment, I heard a tremendous wail followed by sobbing. I'm not sure I have ever heard anything quite like it in my life. The sound was coming through the wall of my living room which was shared with the bedroom of the apartment next door. I later came to find out that my neighbor had just discovered his brother had tested positive for HIV. Not only that, but he had contracted it from my best friend, Greg.

Greg has known he was HIV+ since 1988, long before I ever met him. We became friends 8 years ago after meeting in a bar. We worked together at 3 different jobs throughout the years. For about a year, he and I were roommates. Greg and I were so close that I considered him a member of my family. On most occasions, we referred to each other as "sisters." I knew about his status, and never judged him for it. When he would become ill, I would make sure he made it to his appointments or sit with him in the hospital for hours on end. That's what you do for your family.

When Adam tested positive, he automatically knew that he contracted the virus from Greg. There was no other possibility. We soon learned the details of the evening in question and learned that Greg had spent a great deal of time and energy trying to convince Adam that he was in fact negative. After Adam agreed to "hook up" with him, Greg felt that he couldn't use a condom or it might set off a red flag. A night of mediocre sex was worth more than another person's life to him.

I have not really spoken to Greg since the incident. I realized if this happened once, there have probably been many other occasions. I don't even want to imagine the number of people he has infected in the past 24 years. Continuing our friendship only felt like condoning Greg's actions. Would you have stayed friends with Jeffrey Dahmer after he was arrested? I can't. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but I am standing up for what I think is right.

It kills me not to be friends with Greg. It kills me even more that I pray every night for his disease to take him so he can't infect anyone else. I feel I made the right decision, but maybe I am wrong. What I do know is that even though the disease isn't as high profile as it once was, it is still out there destroying lives. Not just the lives of those infected, but those who love them as well.

While I was working on this project, I received a call that another acquaintance from Ohio had passed from AIDS related complications. It was no one I was ever terribly close with, but still another member of my community who I will never see again because of this horrible disease. When will it end?

Political Image (AR)

a series of drawings critiquing the deterioration of the communist regime in my country, Cuba. these old men (among others i have been drawing) are representations of a communist ideology, which read great on paper, but didn't quite work. some of the men are drawn in a kind a submissive position, while others have a kind decrepit posture in order to represent the fact that everything ends. using the body, as a point of departure without an arrival (as in old age), they embody the decaying state of the government as well as poke fun at the male machismo culture, which is at the core of what Fidel Castro represents.

these are going to be large etchings, eventually.

Political Image (AA)

http://youtu.be/yVS0vYVFhSI

Political Image (RL)

Political Image (CR)

political Image (JW)

Political Image (JT)

Political Image (LK)

Political Image (MA)

Political Image (JOW)

Political Image (LW)

Political Image (CS)

Political Image (EB)

Political Image (ES)

Political Image (AY)

Political Image (HC)

Political Image (DP)

When a child holding flowers in their hands comes to you, sitting on your leg, grasping your thigh tightly, begging you for money, they’ve already sunken in the deepest panic and desperation.

There are some children living in the city like this. Their representative is the gesture-holding people’s leg.

But there is a long long story behind them.

They are forced to do so. They lost their family and have nowhere to go.

They live with the kidnappers.

These are the children controlled by the most conscienceless bad eggs, forced to sell flowers to the passers-by and earn money every day. If they can’t sell as much as required, they will be treated with great cruelty.

I’ve seen the cigarette scald on a little girl’s hand.

Prompt 4: Change your world (EB)

I guess it's the Valentine's Day speaking, but the only way we can affect, effect, or change this world is through love. Here is a little video that I found that perfectly illustrates my idea. Enjoy.
http://vimeo.com/20015531

Prompt 4: Change your world (AR)

2 images detailing a sculpture i made, which deals with the relationship between cultural and personal memory by layering three photographs.

the first photograph, at the back, is of a collection of leaves hanging on an awning, which resemble a man's shadow. this photograph reminds me of when i was a little kid in Cuba, being scared by my uncle's shadow, in the same shape of the leaves on the awning, as i was hanging behind a bush at my grandmother's house.

the second image is a photograph of a little kid on Columbia's campus, doing the same thing i used to do when i got caught by my uncle's shadow.

the third image is of a group of kids in Egypt, playing around an abandoned tank, holding their flag. some are on the floor (like the kid on campus) others are on top of the tank.

the photo of the kid playing on the grass on campus was taking at the same day the New york times posted that photograph of the kids in Egypt playing by an abandon tank.

this sculpture is an attempt to articulate past, present and future, by meshing the images together and juxtaposing both events (personal and cultural-private and public). in doing so, parallels emerge between the 2 events, which dichotomizes their relationship, while at the same time, breaks it down by blurring the lines between private and public. this sculpture was done with found material (the light box), which brings in another dimension: advertising/ consumerism (like the work of Jeff Wall).