Description:
Black and white photograph with two sections that resemble a mug shot. The left section depicts the head and shoulders of President George W. Bush holding a sign that says WASHINGTON D[ill] POLICE 1.28.2003. The right section is a profile view of the same person not holding a sign facing left.
Label Text:
"...Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa... He clearly has much to hide." - George W. Bush, President, January 28, 2003, State of the Union
Curatorial Fellowship exhibition: What's So Funny: How Humor Makes Us Think, March 21 - April 28, 2019
The series, Line Up, presents photographs of the Bush administration manipulated into mugshots. The dates shown on the placards held by the public officials represent the dates when the individual, as Ligorno/Reese states, “betrayed the public trust.” The date on George W. Bush’s placard relates to his State of the Union Address during which he began the discussion regarding the fateful “war on terror.” The use of the mugshot was a careful decision made by Ligorno/Reese to comment record-breaking incarceration rate in the U.S.. With their series, Ligorno/Reese argue that the mugshot has now become the prevailing form of American portraiture. The mugshots of Bush and Cheney represent the saturation of political satire in our society today, yet express the serious implications behind the humorous critique.
- Kayla Peterson (M.A. Art History, 2020) and Siyu Shen (M.A. Art History, 2020)
Tags:
male; Political commentary; portraits; profiles Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=UM+2016.24.1 |
