ART THOUGHTS: Muzeffer’s response to Art and The Body Politick– Part 1

As I entered the gallery, I was greeted by contemporary pieces that made me, a former cynic, look forward to the future or 2009. My eyes were immediately drawn to the work If Capitalism Can Cross Borders, So Can We. by Jesus Barraza (below)

This was so appropriate because a major fear among some Americans is that NAFTA (the North America Free Trade Agreement) will become the North American Union, or borders will disappear between the United States, Canada and Mexico. This will lead to freedom of movement between the citizens of the three nations. The artist’s message is that capital has been crossing borders before the agreement went into affect. Therefore why should citizens remain trapped inside national borders ruled by governments that are no longer concerned about their people? Besides, this will allow Americans to move into the other nations as well in pursuit of more economic opportunity or lower living costs.

This Is Not Torture by Guy Colwell (to the right) made me ponder about how are we as Americans going to address the issue that our national leaders are war criminals. However, the artwork Consummation by J.C Garrett (below) made me temporarily forget about the nationalized oppression of the last eight years and focus upon the emerging era of Obama. Did the recent presidential election portend a new era of American history?
The future will reveal this query. The work illustrates how Barack Obama renewed the spirit of hope among a majority of Americans with his message of change. This renewed spirit of hope among the citizenry, or Obama’s political base, expects some form of change from an Obama presidency. They were hopeful for a deliverance from the evil of the George W. Bush administration. Evil as defined by an immoral quest for selfish greed of the financial elite by any means necessary, regardless of its impact upon other human beings within the United States or the global community. Obama’s message resonated within a nation in search of a messiah “to liberate us from devil.” Maybe the American spirit reawakened by the election of 2008 will lead to a society depicted by Resist U.S. Imperialism. The piece encourages the viewer to develop a passion for the masses of people as opposed to a nation-state, nationalism, which is committed to the interest of an elite. However, that community of people might mean different things to different people such as Sarah Palin community of proud “rednecks” or a community with a regional “value” system as illustrated by a dialogue between grandmother and granddaughter of the piece Oh Grandma by Heidi Forsell (above). The latter is a visual illustration of how the term “people” produces different images for different people.
Furthermore, the interest of the elite might also include the interests of bourgeois bohemians. I was intrigued by the work That One, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Obama by Annie Hall (to the left), even if I could not understand the connection between Thomas Jefferson and Barack Obama.

Muzeffer Abdul el-Hakim is an historian, a theologian, and a political
analyst of contemporary politics and culture. He is a native of
Shreveport, LA and a graduate of Morehouse College. Muzeffer is presently
an educator in the East Bay.