Ahmed Rabbani, “Untitled (Binoculars Pointing at the Moon)” (2016) is one of the works by present and former Guantanamo detainees that could be impacted. (image courtesy Art from Guantánsmo Bay exhibition).
3. Guantánamo Inmates: We can’t imagine a more awful position for someone to be in, but the US government is adding to the humiliation of indefinite detentions without trial by deciding that Guantanamo inmates no longer own the art they create, and they will probably destroy it. Hard to see what good could come of this.
Hyperallergic has their list of the powerless up, and unsurprisingly, the bar just gets lower, as in the case of those people detained at Guantanamo. As always, some people maintain their position on the list of the powerless:
5. Female Artists: Most of the stories were anecdotal before, but now studies are reinforcing what we knew already, namely that art made by women sells for almost half their male counterparts. Analyzing auction data and experiments with thousands of respondents, researchers found that the perception of an artist’s gender consistently affects how their work is valued. Now that we have the data, how do we remedy this?
The very existence of Guantanamo is a sign that USA has made big steps towards fascism post 9/11 and only tentative symbolic steps back. Sadly, there is no chance to improve the situation undel Trump.