#495 Do We Truly Want Peace
84x64 cm | Filler, oak panel
About
See a video of the production here.
I made this work in light of all the devastating news from Gaza this year (2023). I don’t use the cross in a religious sense (at least not consciously) but as a symbol of death. The title is inspired by a song that has been very important to me - Fred (till Melanie) [Peace (to Melanie)] by Mikael Wiehe. But I heard it first in the version of the Swedish band Imperiet.
The song questions the notion of peace. From a privileged position like mine, war definitely seems like the ultimate horror. But even if it is challenging, it is essential to remember that peace may come with a price that is possibly even worse. There can be no peace until all are free. Not freedom in a liberal, individual understanding - the freedom to exploit and oppress, but true freedom. The freedom from exploitation and oppression.
Res Ipsa
Res Ipsa is a compilation of works made by an act shaping the filler once it is prepared inside the frame. The works thus function as a recording device and give a statement of the event taking place while the filler was still wet.
Res Ipsa is Latin for "the thing itself" and is part of the juridical term "Res ipsa loquitur" (the thing speaks for itself), used when an injury or accident in itself clearly shows who is responsible, such as an instrument left inside a body after surgery.
