Submitted by Joyce on Mon, 10/08/2007 - 11:50pm.
GUANTÁNAMO: pictures from home
A project by Margot Herster
September 27 - December 1, 2007
Gallery Reception: Tuesday, October 9, 5-6:30PM
Talk by Margot Herster, October 9, 7PM
http://arts.ucsc.edu/sesnon/
An installation by Margot Herster, created from images, text, audio and video, offering a glimpse into the lives of the Guantánamo prisoners and their relationships with the U.S. attorneys who represent them.
Where: Sesnon Gallery @ UCSC
Contact: Leslie Fellows 831.459-5667; lfellows@ucsc.edu
The pictures were usually the real breakthrough moment in these meetings with them. You can talk about their family and you can tell a story, but the visual of seeing someone that they hadn't seen in years was really powerful.
-Excerpt from Notes from interviews with Anant Raut, attorney for five Saudi detainees, GUANTÁNAMO: pictures from home
GUANTÁNAMO: pictures from home, a project by Margot Herster with installations by Herster and Carolyn Mara Borlenghi, will be on display at the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery at UCSC from September 27 to December 1, 2007. Through a presentation of images, text, audio and video, this exhibition offers a visual history of an unseen place while providing anecdote to the credence of photographic imagery.
This project arises partly in response to photography restrictions and information control at Guantánamo, a prison that has become an emblem of the uncertainty involved in defining "the enemy" in the war on terror. All photography at Guantánamo is subject to rigorous Department of Defense review and photographs showing faces or otherwise identifying features of detainees are strictly prohibited.
GUANTÁNAMO: pictures from home creator Margot Herster, an artist who in this instance also functions as a ollector and curator, wanted to know more. Specifically, she wanted to see more. Through her connection with attorneys representing detainees, Herster discovered a wealth of photographic documentation far different from the now iconic military-approved images of Guantánamo widely distributed by the press.
**more**
The story of these documents, their genesis, and how they were used is fundamental yet particular. Guantánamo attorneys, for the purpose of introducing themselves and building relationships with their clients, traveled to detainees' homes in the Middle East and Afghanistan and photographed family members, homes, neighborhoods, old snapshots and personal objects, sometimes including themselves in the frame. The attorneys brought these images, along with greetings sent by loved ones, to their clients for the implicit messages of recognition and reciprocated trust that they contain. Fascinated by these documents as well as the conditions that spawned their existence, Herster began gathering pictures, probing the attorneys on their interactions with detainees and their families, and assembled her collection into GUANTÁNAMO: pictures from home.
The exhibition comprises over 100 photographs, video vignettes and text pieces arranged in a dynamic installation. Organized by country of origin, the exhibition portrays detainees from Yemen, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Reflecting the varied production and functionality of the materials, the installation combines conventions of journalistic storytelling, personal memento and photo-based art practice.
Two stand-alone pieces Herster produced with collaborator Carolyn Mara Borlenghi are integrated into the exhibition. A sound installation, Interview Cell Recordings, splices archived audio and narratives documenting darker encounters inside the prison. The Lawyers, a 14-minute video, positions viewers face to face with six attorneys who describe their experiences at Guantánamo.
Amateur digital photographers have produced some of the most incisive recent wartime photographs. Created by participants and bystanders, images such as those from Abu Ghraib, terrorist attacks and insurgent videos document inhumanity and serve to propagate divisiveness. Herster presents Guantánamo filtered through the lens of attorney-photographers who, by circumstance, threw themselves into personal relationships with the men behind Guantánamo's closed doors. GUANTÁNAMO: pictures from home highlights the power of photography to build trust and facilitate relationships in extreme circumstances of anxiety and isolation.
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Margot Herster is a photographer and installation artist based in Austin, Texas. Carolyn Mara Borlenghi is a video artist and photographer based in Miami, Florida. Both hold MFA degrees from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
GUANTÁNAMO: pictures from home is based on the original exhibition of works from Herster's project presented by FotoFest International, Houston, Texas.
Principle sponsors include Foreman, DeGeurin, and
Nugent LLP; Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP; John Roberson
and John Blackmon; Davis Cedillo & Mendoza; Heard,
Robins, Cloud, Lubel & Greenwood, LLP; Daniel Wolf,
George Wolf Memorial Trust; Giorgio and Cathy
Borlenghi; Robertson & Anschutz, P.C.; and the Houston
Arts Alliance.
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Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday noon to 5:00PM. The gallery is located at Porter College, University of California, Santa Cruz and is wheelchair accessible.
Admission is free and parking is free on Saturdays. For further information please call 831/459-3606. This exhibition and lecture are sponsored by Kresge
College, Porter College, the Charles Griffin Farr Fund, and the UCSC Alumni Association Distinguished Visiting Professor Program.
