The Middle East

The Middle East holds some of the world's most complicated conflicts. Within the past decade this region has seen radical events from the democratic revolts, known as the Arab Spring, to the Iraq War. While a lot of political differences are still visible within this region, cities are beginning to emerge as modern, capitalist havens. The power brought into the Middle East through the Western world's dependence on oil is clearly visible through the developing metropolises, like Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Struggling with a conservative religious background, a rich culture, and a history full of mystery, the Middle East proves to be nothing short of a unique experience for all who encounter it.

Aerial shot of Abu Dhabi, UAE

Recently, there has been an influx of art within Saudi Arabia. This is all due to the contemporary art show called "We Need to Talk". The exhibition hosted in Jeddah features more than 40 pieces, ranging from videos, sculpture, and photography by 22 artists. All artists are Saudi Arabian, while half of them are women. These artists are part of an independent arts initiative called Edge of Arabia, exhibiting world-wide over the past 3 years. But never before had they exhibited their work at home. With a new perspective on art, the exhibition was received very well by international artists, critics, and directors of prestigious museums, along with the Saudi royal family. While the exhibition was met with such high regards and interest from outside investors for future exhibitions, the city is not fully equipped for this cultural awakening. Jeddah does not have an art school or university program, no contemporary art museum, or growing contemporary art galleries within the art scene.
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Visitors walk through exhibition rooms.

Ahmed Mater
Evolution of a Man

An interesting project, backed by Harvard University through the Gardner Photography Fellowship award is "Palestinian Semblance" from Miki Kratsman. Kratsman is a photo-journalist, based in Israel since 1971. His award-winning work is known for the controversial documentation of the Palestinians living in Israel. The project named "Palestinian Semblance" is a portfolio of photographs drawing on various sources of influence to document how Palestinians appear to the eye of the beholder. Within one part of the portfolio, the subjects will be presented as a targets, shot with a lens used by Israeli Defense Forces. In another part, the last piece of clothing wore by Palestinian victims will be photographed in isolation- such as in the famous Francois Aubert photograph "Emperor Maximilian's Shirt" (1867).

Miki Kratsman

Earlier this year, the Contemporary Art Museum of Castille and Leon in Leon, Spain opened Kratsman's first solo exhibition in Spain called 'AS IT IS'. The exhibition holds over 4,000 images that document the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1985. Critics have claimed that it "unfolds between the vicissitudes and circumstances of the daily life of the Palestinian people, shaped by displacement, constant siege, and the systematic occupation that they have undergone for more than sixty years." It is a monumental career landmark as it shows his whole life's work within Israel, openly displaying the destruction occurring within the country's cities and the people's faith.
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Miki Kratsman
IMG_2213 (undated)

Africa

Africa is the second largest and populous continent in the world. It is extremely diverse in language, social customs, and culture. Currently, there are 56 countries within this landmass, but the majority of these countries are suffering due to many factors which limit their resources, their economy, and lead to political turmoil among themselves and towards other more powerful countries. Africa has a long history of exploitation, which is to blame for its problems today. Since the 7th century, Africa has been a victim of slave trade, benefiting the selfish rulers of African territories, the Arabs who acted as middle men in the slave trade, and the Europeans who needed cheap labor. Later in the 19th century, European colonialism occupied the majority of the continent, creating dramatic forms of exploitation until 1975 in some cases. The colonial years created borders based on the land conquered by European countries. These borders gave no consideration of the previous forms of division set by culture and language among other factors. After the independence of African territories, these borders have been kept and created deep gaps within the identity and sense of nationalism in every formed country. The lack of a sustainable form of governance has led Africa to have notoriety for being unstable, corrupt, violent, and authoritarian. The majority of people living in Africa are age 25 or younger, and are extremely poor, illiterate, and exposed to malnutrition and various diseases and viruses due to their limited access to clean water and modern medicine.
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Lately, there has been a wide amount of coverage in the media concerning Africa and its numerous problems, from the Somali Pirates, to Darfur, to Joseph Kony and the film "Invisible Children", and to the coup d'etat in Guinea Bissau earlier this month. With so much affecting Africa, it is impossible to cover every region's distinct problems and its political art. But due to its alienation from the Western world through language barriers, and societal distancing it is among the most foreign areas out of the entire world. It is difficult to fully understand many of its unique cultures and social differences. It has been equally difficult to come across many artists working in politically themed art due to the censoring of those authoritarian governments. Here are only a few examples of such artists and their work.

Currently there is uproar in Kenya concerning a group of anonymous graffiti artists, headed by internationally acclaimed photojournalist, Boniface Mwangi. The group mostly remains anonymous due to the governments' notoriety of arresting and beating people who have contrasting views with governmental policies. The groups' work highly criticizes the corrupt members of Kenyan Parliament and hopes to awaken a change within people during the upcoming elections. Their notorious imagery consists of a caricature vulture dressed in a suit, representing members of the Kenyan Parliament, within various contexts, such as sitting on the $2,400 chairs found within the chamber of parliament. The graffiti art is serving as place to release the citizens' anger concerning the hefty salaries, tax exemptions for members of parliament, and their implementation of high taxes on the people. Most Kenyans agree with these messages but are afraid to show their displeasure with the current government. The anonymous group hopes that these murals will help people know they are not alone in their discontent. Meanwhile the government's reaction has brought the needed attention for international media to get interested with this type of artwork, usually covering up the walls within hours of their discoveries.
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Photo still of a wall with graffiti in Nairobi, Kenya

Watch the following video from Kenya's 'The Headliner' to watch the team in action, how the local people are reacting, and how quickly the government censors their work around Nairobi, Kenya.

A more well-known contemporary artist is El Anatsui. Born in Ghana, his sculptural work references the colonial period and current post-colonial time in Africa by using traditional sculpting materials (metal, ceramic, and wood) and cast-off materials from Western world products, such as the metal caps of liquor bottles. His work consists of flexible sculptural pieces, usually in the form of a textile, . These pieces are installed in galleries and museums world-wide without any set of instructions, giving the curators the ability to give their own unique twist on the same piece that has traveled the world many times, continuously changing its look. El Anatsui describes his work as being physically about change; using destruction as a prerequisite for new ideas. He also points out that it is representative of conflict; both man-made conflict and conflicts with nature. His work is composed physically of objects used by man and discarded, which he transforms into something contemplative, absent of utility.

El Anatsui with one of his sculptural pieces

Watch this video from PBS's Art21 series. Not only does it include commentary from El Anatsui, but it documents the creation process in Nigeria where his workshop is based, the installation process at a museum, and a look at other sculptural pieces of his creation.

http://www.pbs.org/art21/watch-now/episode-change

Europe: The Forgotten East

Eastern Europe is not only a geographical region of a continent, it is a cultural entity defined by thousands of years of historical development. It is commonly known for its previous communist regimes, which led it to be called the 'Eastern Bloc' during the Cold War. Ever since the end of the Cold War in 1991, the countries within this group began trying to re-establish themselves after decades of oppression, corruption, and a weakening economy. These countries are still struggling today to meet the European standards of a democratic nation in order to be accepted within the European Union. They have been standing on their own feet for only 21 years, which in terms of changing a country's political system is very short. Nevertheless, some countries have proved to advance faster than others, to the point where they have been asked to help in the current European Debt Crisis. In late 2011, a European Union plan for the bailout funds, pressured Slovakia to get involved. Many Slovaks resented being asked to put up roughly $10 billion in loan guarantees to rescue countries richer than theirs, like Greece and Portugal. More recently, due to this decision, the ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, downgraded Slovakia's debt, making it costlier for the country to pay down its debt as investors demand that the government pay higher borrowing costs to compensate for risk. And even through all of the hassle to 'fit in', most of Eastern Europe is still called the "Black Hole" by Western Europeans.

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Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kiev, Ukraine

The art world has also seen a tough road through these years. Until recently have Eastern Europe galleries and artists been invited to show in international art fairs. This is due to many factors, but the main one says Jonas Zakaitis of Vilnius, from Lithuania's Tulips & Roses Gallery, "Across the region there is not a lot of governmental support for contemporary art. So the art scene is driven by personal initiatives, or by some crazy guy who has an idea." A positive outcome of such challenges are projects like Villa Reykjavik. This project is composed of 14 Western and Eastern European galleries that have come together to set up an international art district in Iceland’s capital every month of July. “It is very important to develop a regional exchange of ideas,” says Lukasz Gorczyca, an organizer from Poland. “We understand each other well because of the black hole of communism that we all went through.” Boris Marte, managing director of the Vienna-based Erste Foundation, adds to this by saying that no one thought about transitioning cultural institutions from a communist to a capitalist system. “So you find many institutions like museums (which) still run like communist times,” he says. “I hope local governments are beginning to understand that having a (strong) art scene is important for a vibrant democracy.”
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Installation at Foksal Gallery Foundation in Warsaw, Poland
Cezary Bodzianowski, 'Birthday', 2009 (sculpture); Piotr Janas, 'Poster / Hangover', 2010   

An example of this is Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, a small contemporary art museum established in  2000 on a peninsula in the Danube River, near Bratislava, Slovakia. Built to resemble a Roman galley ship, the museum is set dramatically in the famous river, near the point where the borders of Slovakia, Hungary and Austria converge.The museum's location reflects the heart of a reunited Europe, which gave the project “that extra dimension,” said one of the museums founders, Gerard Meulensteen. Meulensteen, the 68-year-old entrepreneur who has been the museum’s main financial back is not alone in its journey to revive the ex-Communist country. The other founder of the museum is Vincent  Polakovic, a former Slovakian art dealer and gallery owner.

Still as with any new museum, it has had a rough start. Nonetheless, the museum has managed a continuous schedule of more than 70 exhibits, with works from a selection of well-known artists, including Sam Francis, Pierre Alechinsky, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude. But, even if these artists are well-known, they do not fit into the contemporary category anymore as some are dead and others' work seems irrelevant within a today's context. Many young Slovakian artists and gallery owners feel the same way. They see Danubiana as mainly a showcase for older artists, with little relevance for a contemporary scene that has moved on to other media. The museum hopes to set itself apart and slowly grow into the hearts of art lovers.
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The museum has to embrace the countries new identity within the European Union before being accepted into the contemporary lens of the world. Old ways are unacceptable with a country struggling to renew itself within the eyes of the world. Is this a loss of tradition and culture, not so much; simply a new face for a new tomorrow.

Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum aerial shot

Europe: The Western Front

Europe has seen a great deal of change during the last decade. The age of prosperity brought on due to a strong economy and greater equality among its population is now in decline. The recession which hit the US in 2008 has sent ripples throughout the world and more recently, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal have asked the European Nation for a bailout and it is expected for Spain and Italy to be forced to do the same. Such loss of autonomy within these countries' economic policies has had a hard impact on many people. Earlier this year, we witnessed the rioting in Greece, where the mass hysteria facilitated for armed thieves to take ancient artifacts from the birthplace of the Olympics.

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With such tumultuous times being faced by the majority of western European nations, it is expected to see great change within their laid-back culture, their social class distinctions, and their overall attitude towards their governments' loss of power to the countries bailing them out. This fear has spread to art markets, currently setting new records within auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's. It is a mixed set of analysis from experts, some argue that investors are trying to exchange their money for tangible assets, while others explain that new investors from mainland China are beginning to get deeply involved in what used to be a solely Western world luxury. Regardless of the movement of prestigious art pieces, the effects felt within Europe are present today.

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Pablo Picasso
Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, 1932

The UK has always been known for its pompous and arrogant mentality. But also for its fervent liberalism, sometimes amounting to anarchism. Banksy, a street artist, famous for his witty humor incorporated into political and social themes, ranging in themes from anti-war, anti-consumerism, and existentialism. His work ranges from outdoor pieces consisting of graffiti and building physical props to accentuate the iconography needed to put his message across. Meanwhile his other well-known pieces involve an array of mixed media to create interior installation spaces, clandestine addition of his pieces into museums, and other radical activities of the sort.

Banksy
3 Sculptures, 2009

A humorous project called "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill" was conceptualized to set up a store to display the dark side of society's relationship with animals, dealing with the human conditions of greed, consumerism, and hypocrisy. As you tour the store, the viewer is presented with themes from testing make-up to consumption.

Banksy
Nuggets- Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, 2008

Another exemplary artist is the Greek artist, Anna Tsouloufi-Lagiou, who specializes in sculpture and photography. Her work is in research around identity and subjectivity, while she thinks and feels of the human as a sculpture in a sociopolitical environment. She recently opened an exhibition in the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, Greece, called Forms of Life: Survival Kit in the Metropolis. It deals with questions regarding if we benefit from the existence of different people with specific roles in society, politics, and philosophical manners. She looks to initiate discussions of resistance and survival during this time of global crisis. On the museum website she describes her mode of work through these words:

"The current work is the fruit, or, at least, the partial fruit of an artistic research, presented through a series of photos, discussions documented on videos, theory texts, poetic descriptions, and peculiar maps. I borrow tools and take up practices from the fields of social anthropology, philosophy, and political science, so as to act as a sculptor."

nd the commons, sociopolitical issues and urban space configuration, with the Network Nomadic Architecture-Athens, PAC Multimedia- Skopje-Republic of Macedonia, Verpeilt Brigade – Athens, Filopappou Art Group – Athens. She has exhibited and participated in shows and workshops in Greece, Germany, Italy, Bosna-Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia, Albania, and US-Chicago. She works in research around identity and subjectivity, while she thinks and feels

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She works in research around identity and subjectivity, while she thinks and feels of the human as a sculpture in a sociopolitical environment.

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Photo still of ongoing project called Forms of Life: Survival Kit in the Metropolis by Anna Tsouloufi-Lagiou

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She works in research around identity and subjectivity, while she thinks and feels of the human as a sculpture in a sociopolitical environment.

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Mexico: Inspired by its troublesome present

Mexico has gained fame for many things, such as its cuisine, its muralist 20th century painters, and its richly diverse customs. More recently, the territorial wars among drug cartels and the military have left over 40,000 dead and countless consequences in its aftermath. International attention has been concentrated since 2006 on the bloody events and the movement of important players within Mexico's Drug War. The Mexican Drug War, as analysts are dubbing it, is a battle for territory, monetary power, and fear. The main parties involved are the old and established drug cartels (the Sinaloa cartel), the newly formed terrorist group, known as Los Zetas, which is composed of former soldiers who constitute the most violent group of all, and the military, who on behalf of the government has been fighting both groups in order to achieve peace. But many would argue that the military involvement has only worsened the situation. Since the three groups began fighting each other, there have been more violent attacks from the cartels and Los Zetas. The violence has drifted away from drug routes and into major metropolis regions. While not everyone is directly affected by the drug war, everyone does fear it.
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While this is an important aspect to pay attention to, the cultural and social evolution the country is experiencing has been overlooked. There is much more than just death toll figures coming out of Mexico. Currently, the San Francisco branch of the Museum of Modern Art, SFMOMA, is showcasing a 5-month long exhibition of over 150 photographs describing Mexico from the 1920's to its present-day settings. Photography in Mexico highlights the work of genius artists such as, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Lola and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Carrillo, Pedro Meyer, and many others.

Edward Weston
Piramide del Sol, Teotihuacan, 1923

Hector Garcia
Islate de Injusticia en la gran Cuidad de Mexico, 1972

The exhibition features a chronological journey through Mexico's post-revolutionary renaissance, nationalist concern with cultural traditions, and the contemporary international perspectives on the US-Mexico border issues. The show offers much more than an art history lesson: it gives an honest account through the captured images about what shaped the nation after its grueling revolution. 

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Tina Modotti, Paul Strand, and Edward Weston, along with works by key Mexican photographers including Lola Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Carrillo, Héctor Garcia, Lourdes Grobet, Graciela Iturbide, Enrique Metinides, Pedro Meyer, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and Mariana Yampolsky.

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by Tina Modotti, Paul Strand, and Edward Weston, along with works by key Mexican photographers including Lola Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Carrillo, Héctor Garcia, Lourdes Grobet, Graciela Iturbide, Enrique Metinides, Pedro Meyer, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and Mariana Yampolsky.

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by Tina Modotti, Paul Strand, and Edward Weston, along with works by key Mexican photographers including Lola Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Carrillo, Héctor Garcia, Lourdes Grobet, Graciela Iturbide, Enrique Metinides, Pedro Meyer, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and Mariana Yampolsky.

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Regardless of location, the drug war reaches millions without their knowledge. Artist Antonio Vega Macotela, who works from Mexico City and Amsterdam, is currently being displayed in LA's Steve Turner Contemporary Gallery, making it his first solo-exhibition in the US. His work deals with revealing the underground form of communication used by Mexican drug traffickers and military soldiers. These messages are written with an anamorphic writing system, which is legible from extreme angles.

Message seen from a straight-forward view.

Message is legible when placed at an extreme angle.

Within the exhibition, Macotela has given a deeper meaning to his work by facilitating the ability of the viewer to read the messages: one must kneel in front of the wall and stare directly up to read the newspaper clippings. This work is very directing through its usage of the viewers' body, but at the same time has little to say through the messages displayed.

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Meanwhile, there is a new museum in Mexico City featuring the world's richest man's art collection. Carlos Slim Helu's Museo Soumaya  features what could be the world's largest collection of pre-Hispanic and colonial era coins, modern Mexican artworks, and classical European works from some of the Old Masters. While this museum is free for the public, it is not clear if the Soumaya will continue to acquire contemporary Mexican pieces, will commission artists for unique works, or become a patron of the arts during a tumultuous time within the cultural life of Mexico.

Exterior view of the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, MX

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A Glance at Contemporary Chinese Artists

Ever since China became known as the People's Republic of China with the emergence of the Communist Party of China in 1949, the Western gaze has struggled to understand contemporary China. The nation once praised for its traditional values in religion, its imperial form of government, and the arts changed drastically over the last 60 years.

Lin Yong
The Spirit of Yan'an Shines Forever, 1971

Modern day China

Today, there is a convergence of generations affected differently by years of social change, identity loss, democratic activism, and formative events. Contemporary artists have experienced different forms of repression over the decades, from being relocated to "education camps" for their clashing values with those of the State, to having their work censored through the closure of their exhibitions, to even being placed on the Communist Party of China's black list. Due to the hostile environment in which free-thinking artists were brought up in, a variety of art genres have formed, such as cynical realism, political pop, and dissident art.


An example of the dissident artists is Ai Weiwei. He is one of the most influential  contemporary artists in China. Ai Weiwei is known for his art which typically goes against the ideas of the government in a loud and blatant manner. Yet he has gained the praise of the government as a talented artist, thus giving him the opportunity to work on the design of the National Stadium showcased for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. More so, he has gained international fame due to his punishment from the Communist Party of China. Such actions have led to his current house arrest, charged on fake claims of tax evasion, and being denied access to the internet and other forms of communication. There is a current worldwide campaign to organize people for his release, visit http://freeaiweiwei.org/ to learn more about Ai Weiwei's detention, future and previous protests held around the globe, and the latest press on Ai Weiwei.

Ai Weiwei
Study of Perspective- Tiananmen Square, 1995-2003

A recent work exhibited in the Tate Modern in London titled "Sunflower Seeds", in where 100 million porcelain pieces resembling sunflower seeds filled a gallery spaces floor. Each piece was hand-made in a Chinese town known for making the impeccable porcelain for its Emperors. The piece represents the cumulative power of the people of China, their importance in the party's agenda (its rise to power, the Cultural Revolution, and financial support), simultaneously serving as an analysis on classical Mao Zedong's imagery within political propaganda as the brilliant leader who gave nourishment to the bountiful people of China, represented as sunflower seeds.
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Ai Weiwei shown at Tate Modern with  the Sunflower Seeds installation.

Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline: Three Comrades, 1994

Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline: Big Family No. 2, 1995

Another main artist in Contemporary China is Zhang Xiaogang. He is well-known for his "Bloodline: Big Family" and "Comrade" series depicting troubled Chinese families and youth. His style is easily distinguished among artists by his innovative blend of charcoal-like drawings and modern pop art. He has gained international fame due to the over-night demand for his work in the Western world. In 2007, he broke the auction house record at Sotheby's when one of his paintings sold for over two million US dollars.





















The "Bloodline: Big Family" series portrays family portraits with the husband, wife, and usually one male child. They are all connected by red lines and noticeable facial traits from both parents. All figures are emotionless, drained of vitality, and simultaneously trapped in time. They have become the iconic image of troubled Chinese families. This series was influenced by Zhang Xiaogang's own family portraits, his upbringing during the 1960's by government officials, and the story of the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution proved to be a decade of instability, social and political hysteria, and a destructive episode for all traditions and cultural values. It gave way for mass demonstrations by the youth of that time, they closed schools, denounced anyone thought to be counter-revolutionary according to the Communist Party of China. This dark past of China serves as a background for most contemporary Chinese artists.

There's no place like home- USA

This blog is intended to provide a world-wide scope of contemporary political art. Since this is such a broad topic, each blog entry will synthesize events and art of a specific region or country. Clearly most of us cannot keep up to date with world politics and all current events, therefore I will briefly explain the circumstances the people in these areas are facing, what is at stake, and how the art community has decided to communicate its stand on such issues.

Noting that we are relatively familiar with what is going on at home, this blog will commence by looking at the United States of America. Today we face a number of issues from the Occupy Movement to Internet censorship by the government to the Iraq War. American artists illustrate their messages in an open and direct manner, thanks to our Constitutional Rights. Our political art is at times highly critical of the government, such as we saw in this years' Venice Biennale. (Contemporary Artists in Context: Allora and Calzadilla at US pavilion) So what types of roots does political art have in America? Is it notorious? How does it influence contemporary artists?

Historically, political art in the US has been an important part of expressing concern or disapproval in a democratic manner. A very important period of American political art surged during the Vietnam War. Artists felt the need to express their dissatisfaction with the war due to various reasons and outcomes. Nonetheless, in 1966 there was a group of artists in L.A. who decided to build a towering structure and place art relating to the war on this tower. The artists involved in displaying work ranged from local artists to A-listers, such as: Roy Lichtenstein Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, Claes Oldenburg, and Elaine de Kooning. The tower referred to as "The Artists' Peace Tower" or "The Tower of Protest" was extremely controversial during its time as it experienced violent clashes almost daily.

 Recently the Pacific Standard Time Festival has decided to remake the original tower and include political art referring to today's concerns. This effort not only is a reflection on the historic moment in L.A. and the impact the Vietnam War had on Americans, but it pushes viewers to continuously think about activism and its endless battle against its oppressors.

Original 1966 "Artists' Peace Tower"

Current tower erected by the Pacific Standard Time Festival.

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Activism is found everywhere and just because we hardly hear about remote places, does not mean the people there are quiet. Somewhere almost foreign to us is Alaska. Recently an Alaskan artist, Teri Rofkar was placed under the spotlight when she was the first Alaskan to receive a grant supporting her innovative and ambitious projects. Rofkar's work deals with the lack of Native American presence in the connotation of what defines America as a country today. Native Americans have been fighting for their rights and in the 1971 they gained the rights to their ancestry lands with the ANCSA bill signed into law. Regardless, they still are over-looked as people and as an essential  part of our society.

Her art incorporates this message within traditional Tlingit crafts, such as Chilkat weaving. Rofkar has stated that she finds inspiration behind propaganda art, specifically a black and white poster of four Native Americans with rifles that reads: "Homeland Security: Fighting Terrorism since 1492."She is known for recreating the traditional art with a modern twist of materials and meanings. Her current series is called "Tlingit Superman", which deals with combining traditional weaving techniques with bulletproof material and nano technology. She finds that her work integrates the traditional clothing of the Tlingit culture, their patriotism, and more importantly the modern concept of homeland security.

Rofkar's work is reminiscent of Feminist Art due to her effort to emphasize the importance traditional weaving techniques, like the Chilkat weaving form, which has been regarded as a minor art. She also raises the point that patriotism comes from many different cultures, not just the All-American family. Her effort to gain the Tlingit people the deserved importance within museums and pop-culture is extremely refreshing.
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A current topic in the news is the Occupy Movement, which originated in New York City's Zuccotti Park in Sept. 2011 and has now spread worldwide. The Occupy Movement is a protest movement directed against economic and social inequality. It is believed to be inspired by the 2011 uprisings and revolutions in the Middle East and  the ongoing protests in Spain by the Spanish Indignants. The movement has a recognized slogan, "We are the 99%", which relates to the concentration of wealth among the top 1% of income earners compared to the other 99%. Since the emergence of this group, the followers and participants have established camps in major city parks and other public areas.

Recently, the photographer Accra Shepp has decided to follow the Occupy Movement in New York's Zuccotti Park. His work will serve as a visual record of the protests and more importantly will help the public understand who the protesters are and what the protest is. Shepp's portraits capture all of the participants in the protest, this includes those who camp in the park, the press, the police, and anyone else who visits the grounds. His photographs will not only help the protesters' cause by educating the public, but also 50% of the proceeds will benefit the movement itself. He has also made his work affordable for people from all social classes to have the opportunity of becoming a part of the documentation. Shepp not only supports the "democratic awakening" as described by the Washington Post, by making art based on their interests, but also allows them to own a piece of their own legendary actions.

Accra Shepp
Untitled (Shadow), October 15, 2011

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