1. Would you be interested in doing other political pieces besides those involving the Iraq war, like the Darfur genocide etc.?
2. How are our stereotypes of Arab culture related to views of Arab women and women in general?
Response
I really enjoyed Wafaa Bilal's lecture, I thought he did a really good job of presenting his pieces. By only presenting a couple of his past works we were able to get a very in-depth look at each individual piece. He said two things that were really interesting to me. Bilal thinks "all art is political. It matters what kind of politics you engage in." I thought that was interesting, it made me look at my work and see if I could relate my work in any way. The fact that he makes his work very personal yet open to all people, in the form of games or Internet sites, is inspiring. I don't know if I would be able to make work on a personal level like that for so many people to see. The fact that other Muslims and Arabs sometimes don't agree with his work is interesting; I would think that his message to the world that Iraqi's need help would be appreciated. That doesn't matter to Bilal though, I think he actually likes it when people get enraged or offended because he stated that his work is "meant to agitate and engage" the audience. I liked his reasoning for making the work because in the end it raises awareness and gives other courage. I think my favorite piece of his is ...And Counting. I like the idea of using your body as a canvas and the fact that he has Iraq cities tattooed on his body forever is real commitment to his work. I think it says a lot too when you are finally shown the blacklight tattoos and you can really take in the enormity of the situation and the fact that so many innocent people have been killed. It really makes you step back and realize the pointlessness of war.
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