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FLORENCE (IT)
Palazzo Vecchio
6 november 2017
ion the occasion of Kennedy Foundation 50th anniversary and of the JFK Centenary celebration
[...] In the installation entitled Human Rights Vision, the function of the artist’s eyes is to furnish an alternative reading of the world: their purpose is “to elevate the world’s gaze and foster a spirit of brotherhood”.
[...] On earth that is burnt and black with spilt blood, we glimpse the symbols of violence: rusting knife blades and empty bullet casings. Slowly rising from the same soil, fragile stems push their way up towards a new vision in which violence vanishes, giving way to harmony, liberty, brotherhood and a gathering of different flags and colours united on a higher plane where the weight of negativity is no longer a burden, where eyes freed of the fog of preconceptions and prejudice confront higher ideas and ideals, unsullied by the worldly and materialistic aspects of existence. [...]
[...] There are eleven eyes represented in the installation. In a reference to the eleven remaining apostles who witnessed Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, the artist has chosen to represent the vision of eleven defenders of human rights who have taken as their mission that of “elevating the world’s gaze” and who have inspired others to join them in their fight. The image at the centre of the composition is that of the eye of Kerry Kennedy, the founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. The other “eyes” belong to people of various ethnicities, religions and cultures, people with handicaps, like the blind, who fight for social integration, and prisoners who dream of freedom.. [...]
