Colombian artist Fernando Botero's controversial Abu Ghraib paintings debuted in the AU Museum this Tuesday, and AU students should be honored and open-minded.
Although the 79 paintings depict gruesome acts of torture and violence, Botero's exhibit represents the pinnacle of free speech, a "beautiful" form of expression that helps onlookers "come to terms with horror and tragedy," as museum curator Jack Rasmussen said.
We have to agree. Wholly inspired by what he read in Seymour Hersh's seminal New Yorker article, Botero's work is a different kind of criticism of the Iraq war. Each of his paintings details the unacceptable and heinous human rights violations that often accompany prolonged armed conflict. And Botero makes his observations without the guise of faux-objectivity, separate from the overpoliticization and bipartisanism that often plague discussions about the ongoing war. To state the obvious, the paintings embody emotions - perhaps more eye-opening and motivating than written fact - in a medium that far transcends the boundaries of photojournalism.
To those who disapprove of Botero's work (or our reactions to it), we implore you to visit the museum anyway. Aside from the exhibit's powerful depictions of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the paintings have an inherent and important artistic value. Botero is an incredibly influential neo-figurative artist, and students should not pass up the opportunity to see his work because of their political convictions.
But we cannot pass up a similar opportunity to highlight how Botero's work emphasizes the importance of social criticism. Despite the controversy that surrounds the exhibit, analyzing a political event or a military decision in no way condemns our troops for the work they are doing overseas to combat terrorism, not to mention the Americans who support them. If anything, Botero's repertoire reaffirms at least two of the values the U.S. government seeks to purport internationally - free speech and expression.
To that degree, ignoring and muting Abu Ghraib because it is inherently demoralizing - not to mention the gruesome paintings that comprise Botero's exhibit - only serves to undermine and contradict everything we as Americans often carelessly flaunt. AU students should take advantage of Botero's wonderful exhibit, embracing the tragic story he tells as a form of discourse, if anything else.
