Remeberence of Things Past : Wafaa Bilal

Wafaa Bilal is an Iraqi artist living in the United States that made headlines several years ago. It wasn't surprising to later find out he had an exhibit federally shut down after he locked himself in a gallery for an entire month and allowed online viewers to watch him and to shoot him with a Paintball Gun. He made the project work democratically, you could choose to shoot an Iraqi(himself) or you could choose to deny one shot. It almost sounds a bit juvenile the result is predictable but it does inspire deep questions why isn't empathy a stronger response than aggression? What many people didn't understand is that he was locked inside for nearly a month with very limited human contact under constant fire. Democracy could not hold back the Firing Squad, and on many of his video blog entries you could tell he was experiencing extreme anxiety and/or states of near madness. People fired the gun all night prevented him from sleeping causing even more duress. All this was in the safety of a gallery, and the bullets were paint balls.......Which immediately makes you question, what if this was real? What if going to get food felt like this, what if sleeping had no peace and was under the threat of constant terror, how must it feel to be an Iraqi then and right now. ::the only reaction I could find appropriate was tears and sorrow:: We count death tolls, we count measurable things, we cannot count the countless lives driven to the brink of sanity.

Day 30-Paintball Project

Day 23


http://www.wafaabilal.com