Human Rights
Socially Engaged Practice Why Human Rights?
Artists are well positioned to examine freedom. Gregos writes in her introduction to Newtopia that:
‘The relationship between art and human rights has a long history, from the period of Enlightenment onwards. Art largely depends on an atmosphere of openness and tolerance in order to thrive. The context of human rights affects it, because art is about freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of thoughts and the unrestrained expression of the spiritual and intellectual faculties. – As such, human rights remain and will remain one of the major projects of humanity’
(Gregos, 2012:15).
Socially Engaged Practice Human Rights Hidden Impact
Frimodig (2009 ) To Let (silkscreen)
Hidden Impact project draws on Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognizes the need for an adequate standard of living.
Hidden Impact: Prints in the City was a Bristol wide event, where artists installed a trail of site-specific prints in shops, restaurants and on the streets. Collaborating with artist Anna Harley, Frimodig made subverted estate agent signs, titled The Value of Property, responding to the subprime mortgage crisis and the start of a credit crunch, and developed dialogically with the inhabitants of 18th Century Great George Street in the centre of Bristol. The location was selected because of its mix of property uses – from rentals, to offices and residential. The usual headings of commercial estate agent signs evolved through the feedback of Great George Street’s collaborators from ‘For Sale’ ‘To Let’ and ‘Sale through Auction’ to ‘Freedom’ and ‘To Live’, connecting feelings of home ownership to the historical past of Bristol and the Georgian-era slave trade.
The aim was to engage a local audience to become collaborators in reflecting together on property values and the meaning of ‘home’. The creative outcome was to connect visually between us the artists, the inhabitants and the audience on the street. The question was ‘What is the cost of a home in emotional terms?’ Through a series of e-mail exchanges, conversations and then prints, the feelings invested in homeownership and rental properties during a recession of job cuts and repossessions – the notions of security, longings and anxieties over value and mortgage payments were interpreted visually in screen-printed posters. These were then attached to railings on the street, mimicking Real Estate Placards. In the end, the participants concluded that landlords providing rental properties seldom offered a high standard of living.
Socially Engaged Practice Human Rights Inter- religious Robes
Inter- religious Robes is a project on inter-connecting empathy. Religious leaders will be asked to wear the same Identity Robe, printed with universal symbols such as a heart, Tree of Life and a Fish. The robe will be worn in the place of their worship where the leaders will be photographed.
Frimodig (on going) Inter-religious Identity Robe (silkscreen, thread and material)
Frimodig (on going) Inter-religious Identity Robe (silkscreen, thread and material)
Details
Socially Engaged Art Human Rights The Longest Print
![Frimodig, B. (2014) The Longest Print [frottage] Oil pastels on mulberry paper 33.5 x 0.28 meters.](http://bessfrimodig.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/longest_print.jpg)
Frimodig, B. (2014) The Longest Print [frottage] Oil pastels on mulberry paper 33.5 x 0.28 meters.
Frimodig, B. (2014) The Longest Print [frottage] Oil pastels on mulberry paper 33.5 x 0.28 meters