Christian Boltanski's Contemporary Art

Contemporary artist, Ah Kee, has created a work, “Unwritten #9”, references past racial murders and the way they resonate in the present context and explore Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous culture in the contemporary society. Ah Kee created this series of artworks in response to the apparent police cover up of the death of a young man in their custody and protection of their own lead to accusations of racism, riots by the Islanders and their further oppression by the police. The faces are also non-specific and have no identity, this refers to the devastating history of racism and violence against indigenous peoples in Australia. This symbolism also suggests the often unspoken motivations for actions and interactions between Australians

In Art Spiegelman’s graphical novel Maus his demonstration of the Holocaust and its recollection in Maus was very emotional, affecting and the most expressing. The approach that the author has taken construes and magnifies the comical shape of telling history. It portrays Spiegelman dialog between himself and his father about his happenings as holocaust and polish jew survivor. Most of the narrative specifically focuses on Spiegelman 's difficult connection with his father, and the nonappearance of his mother who committed suicide when he was 20.In this essay I will be examining the experience of trauma and memory in Maus. Also I will be showing how the pain and trauma of the Holocaust affected Artie and Vladek 's diasporic memories. Trauma usually describes the association with chronological or combined traumatic proceedings to experiences that happen to others. These occasions are internalized circuitously through images, and stories and other recaps and reminders of their family’s occurrences. Spiegelman also investigates and addresses the load and legacy of distressing reminiscence on second-generation survivors. In the narrative Maus discovers and documents this behavior of dual memory. Throughout the story Art talks about the state of affairs in which his father’s reminiscences are expressed. The chronological and personal trauma produced by the Holocaust, and by simplifying the reintegration of the following generation to its past.

Each tool and weapon was made from certain items, and they each are used in a different way.

Contemporary Australian artist Fiona Hall uses biological features in her artwork to make political and social statements on contemporary issues and the history behind them.

Artists interact with the events and issues of their time and place and this is shown with Australian artist Brett Whiteley’s artwork series called “the Christie series”. Some of Whiteley’s artworks include “Head of Christie”, “Christie and Hectoria McLennan”, “10 Rillington Place” and “Christie and Kathleen Maloney”.

“Artists today explore ideas, concepts, questions, and practices that examine the past, describe the present, or imagine the future.” Contemporary artists use a dynamic combination of media and technologies, methods, concepts, and subjects to create works that reflects The Human Condition in modern culture and society. Three contemporary artworks that utilise these artistic practices to express The Human Condition are Michael Parekowhai, Tracey Moffatt and Vernon Ah Kee. Each artist has used artistic devices to express the contemporary significance of The Human Condition by creating works that reflect back to their own experience and the history of their nationality.

When one loses someone or something valuable to them, the grief can be intense. But what happens when what they lose is actually a piece of them? Novels depicting a witness account of The Holocaust (1941 - 1945) paint a picture of the violence and moral anguish, which is accompanied by a loss to the protagonist. The plot shows a process of events that ultimately leads to death and devastation. Both protagonists in Elie Wiesel’s Night and Wladyslaw Szpilman’s The Pianist gradually fall into the abyss of inhumane behaviour. Post Holocaust, they embark on a new life free from social restraints and become either unmindful or compliant to the losses they faced on their journey. Elie and Wladyslaw

“Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky ” (Wiesel 34). History is all about the preservation the of past and never forgetting the memories of those who were lost. For years, Hitler persecuted large numbers of Jews by putting them into concentration camps and slaughtering them by the thousands. In the end, more than five million Jews were killed. Nonetheless there were those who were able to subsist the terrors that Hitler inflicted. Art Spiegelman’s father Vladek and Elie Wiesel are two individuals who were fortunate to live through this period of mass murder. Art Spiegelman, who is responsible for narrating the story of his father, concentrates on the concept that it was not the

This is often seen in ax heads and maces. Obsidian mirrors are made in the same grounding process. Bone needles used for stitching clothes were also found. My point with identifying all these different methods of making tools is that it is highly unlikely that each and every household had the skills to do all these functions. There must have been class levels in this society and since there wasn’t any sign of currency they must have used some sort of bartering system attain these services. Like a hunter going to get his ax re-sharpened and paying the craftsmen with some game that he has killed.

Australia is a young, modern country made up of a diverse and multicultural population, therefore, it’s difficult to say that it has a single national identity. This essay will examine what Australia’s identity may look like, specifically, through art.

Phones are the easiest and most common way to get connected. Through his art, Pawel Kuczynski is warning the audience of problems that phones cause among people. The artist has created many paintings to convey the idea of technology causing people to become separated and disconnected from one another. Kuczynski’s art could be seen as a metaphor for young people, being connected through technology but still isolated in loneliness. Phones are most likely the most commonly used source of communication in the world; which begs the question of how they could possibly be disconnecting people. The title alone, Islands, suggests to the audience a sense of distance and isolation. That is also conveyed in the painting itself with the use of perspective

Postmemory is a concept that came to the forefront of history and memory studies at the end of the 20th Century. First proposed by Marianne Hirsch in her article ‘Family Pictures: Maus, Mourning and Post-Memory’, the concept is subject to both strengths and weaknesses in its application. Hirsch defines postmemory as, “the relationship of the generations that follows survivors and witnesses of historical or collective traumatic events to these experiences”. This response will examine the theory through the lens of the Holocaust by drawing on books and other academic sources that discuss the scope of postmemory in the history domain. It is the contention of this paper that postmemory has a specific place in history studies, and that that place

The artistic representation of the Holocaust has created a controversial dialog that revolves around ethical, moral, and historical questions. Is art an accurate representation of the trauma and events that had occurred during the Holocaust? If it is, which mediums are the best in which to represent with? The purpose of art is to evoke strong feelings in the viewer, to create questions about society, and to depict the argument of the artist. Since art - be it a painting, a sculpture, a poem or a novel - is subjective, using it to represent the Holocaust has benefits but also restrictions. Portraying the lived experiences of survivors from an objective point of view is difficult as the horrors faced cannot be accurately captured; however, using art to express a traumatic experience for many people is a safe, therapeutic way of coping. This expression is highly individualized and therefore cannot represent the Holocaust as one cohesive experience. If the Holocaust is to be represented through artistic mediums such as a creative piece of writing, it must be supplemented with historical knowledge and be subjected to criticism.

Many characters’ lives are enveloped by a mental issue and they are a representation for these issues. Art covers these multiple issues. The Holocaust affected millions of people and of these millions, Vladek, Anja, and Mala all were left with

Art, in essence, is one of the most crucial pieces of cultural history. It transcends language, emanates emotion, provokes thought, and stimulates imagination. In other words, art is of monumental value in its scope of what befalls under its umbrella. It was no wonder why during the Nazi regime from 1933 - 1945 that the Nazis would thieve some of Europe’s most treasured works but also those deemed “degenerate.” Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally is a perfect example as to what “degenerate” art would be considered and what the Nazis would have been interested in seizing, but why?