PHOTO ART EXHIBITION : ARTWORKS QR CODE #2
ARTIST STATEMENT:
In this work my engagement is of reflective and also a kind of criticism towards what is happening within the ‘Islamic World’ today-especially in what is happening in the Middle East conflict. As we know in any combatant situation within the Islamic tradition there is not only a tactical consideration but at most an ethical foundation towards how parties involved (especially the Muslim side) should engage.
As what is happening currently the world has left displacement with how reality is enfolding and with how myth (i.e. conspiracy theory’) is also becoming the discourse within the tragic (inhuman) or in the narrative seen as “religious prophecy”. For some people (consider as moderate Muslim) is a vacuum of both. Most of the people that were slain were non-combatant and at most should be protected.
With their horrific demise, especially that of Kenji Goto whose story is very compelling, this situation that has been created by “the Muslim” has made a much bigger ambiguity within how we encounter reality and what is considered truth.
-Fuad Arif, 2018,
[notes from the 2018 acquisition files.]
CURATOR NOTES:
Fuad Arif had donated this artwork alongside 3 others in the same style and visual approaches in 2018, proposed by senior curator, Baktiar Naim. This piece reflects on the murder of Mr. Kenji Goto, a journalist who was taken hostage and murdered by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).The work is a juxtapose of the names of the slain Journalist, Kenji Goto b. Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, 23 October 1967 – d.2014, Syria. In the artwork, the name Kenji Goto is accompanied by a black and white photograph of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Sendai, a mosque in Sendai in the background, the composition is divided by two rectangular shapes, mimicking a window pane.
Fuad use of contextual data and images to highlight his thoughts and response to contemporary issue showcase a fundamental function of the artist and contemporary art itself in enticing concerns to contemporary issue to the audience, discoursing conflicts, questioning reality and propagating critical thinking, this is especially true and necessary towards grave matter in need of support and attention of the society to help right the wrongs, or simply create a general awareness of the matter.
BACKGROUND & EXTERNAL DATA
ABOUT KENJI GOTO
Kenji Goto was a Japanese freelance video journalist, Kenji had gone to Syria in 2014, despite being warned three times, in order to rescue Haruna Yukawa, a Japanese hostage taken by Islamic State of Syria and Levant (ISIL). Kenji Goto was unfortunately captured the following day and ISIL released a demand of $200 million from Japan government in exchange for the lives of both Goto and Yukawa. On 24th January 2015, ISIL released a picture of Goto holding a photo of decapitated Haruna Yukawa. Goto was also forced to read a message in English which blamed the Japanese government for the death of Yukawa and demanded, again, that ransom shall be paid in exchange of Goto’s life. However, this time ISIL demanded an exchange of hostages between Goto and Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, an attempted suicide bomber. This demand was again ignored which later resulted for the killing of Kenji Goto on the 30th of January 2014.
