Critical Studies - Politics and Identity

 Whether consciously or not, as creatives, we reflect the world we live in through our art with influences from the political climate and ongoing societal shifts. Personally I feel that my art is being driven by environmental concerns and the increasing pressures to live sustainably, which is why I have been trying to use natural resources and second hand materials whenever possible.

Christian Boltanski, born in 1944, was a French artist and sculptor. His father was Jewish and escaped being captured by the nazis by hiding under floorboards; having grown up with this knowledge, Boltanski's work potently references the holocaust and reflects how deeply he was affected by his early experiences of wartime, shaping his life and identity. This is described in an article by Jan Garden Castro, who writes: 'For Boltanski, memory and history are dark shadows of each other – neither mirroring each other nor expressing the “truth.” ' 

https://sculpture.org/blogpost/1810776/349149/Christian-Boltanski-The-World-is-his-Studio

Storage Memory, 2010
This instillation features an almost 10 tonne pile of clothes and a large crane with a red claw that picks them up and drops them. It's an echo of some of the most tragic images that emerged from the holocaust, showing piles of shoes, glasses, clothes, wedding rings and other possessions of the victims. I see the claw as a representation of the way people were processed through the camps as if it were a factory, it's a harsh looking machine and there is a complete lack of humanity in it that makes the viewer feel unsettled. The pile of shredded clothes is enormous and it reminds us of the true scale of the holocaust, to imagine each piece of clothing belonging to a real person is what makes it so powerful to me. Growing up in a post-war environment, Boltanski was surrounded by the damage that the war left behind, not only on the physical landscape, but in the people. In that sense I think he has used art as some form of therapy and catharsis that visualises the grief and pain he is so familiar with. It makes me wonder if the world will ever truly recover from the devastation of war, or if the scars will be carried forever, transcending the generations; plus, how can art be used to deal with this and does it provide healing? 


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