RHETORICA / DISASTER NO.69 ("Nothing. That is what it says") - VIEW FULL
video composition with sound (for projection display) / 2007
Artist Statement: Francisco De Goya endeavoured to convey the brutal reality of war that he bore witness to with as unflinching and intensity as possible. He did not shade the firsthand images he saw of warfare with redeeming or moderating qualities. Some of the disasters of war prints were allegories pointing to the causes of the horror; others represented the first instances of true, graphic depictions of real wartime horror. The disasters were also pioneering in the fact that they were cheaply distributed as prints to as many ports as Goya could get them to. at the very beginnings of mass media, Goya was there, finding new ways to send out truth and awareness. However, it was inevitable that mass media would take a massive right turn as predominating power structures realized their power. this piece is meant to be a video age homage to Goya's disaster of war no. 69 "nothing, that is what it says." Here, I have drawn a parallel between that print, and the often guileful ways that, today, American power structures use the mass media. With their vicious cycle of terrifying threats and placating promises, they aim to put the public into a confused coma in which they can neither see, nor comprehend the real truth, but will accept any placebo they are given to calm their discomfort.
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