Alfredo Jaar and the Post-Traumatic Gaze
Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Chow, Olivier
Date published
2008
Abstract
This paper discusses the relation between trauma and representation in the work of Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar (born 1956), focusing mainly on his installations dedicated to Africa, in particular Sudan and Rwanda. It will be argued that the artist toys with the mechanisms of trauma, reprogramming the shock dynamics of trauma and substituting the aesthetics of the wound with the ‘document’, which contextualises and integrates image and event beyond and against the politics of global information.
Journal title
Tate Papers
Issue
9
Publisher
Tate
Place of publication
UK
ISSN
1753-9854
Rights statement
In Copyright