%C2%A9 Jenny Holzer %2F Brand X Editions%2C New York %2F Artists Rights Society %28ARS%29%2C New York
Graphite and watercolor on vellumexpand_more
Gift of Mary and Bob Merskyexpand_more 2017.115.2
President’s Surveillance Program is part of Jenny Holzer’s long-running “Redaction” series of paintings, drawings, and prints. By modifying previously redacted (censored) U.S. government documents to emphasize their suppressed content, Holzer highlights the extremes of sanctioned secrecy and surveillance. Here, she enlarged the original document and reproduced it on vellum (treated animal skin, also known as parchment), a reference to the parchment on which the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were written. In so doing, she exposes the irony that constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech, press, and protest are often the first casualties of government abuse. Holzer has rendered the censor’s redactions with broad, gestural strokes, in a brilliant shade of red, implying blood and emphasizing that redaction is the work of human hands and minds. The effect is a powerful suggestion that the cost of rising government secrecy is the loss of personal freedom.
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
Does something look wrong with this image? Let us know
© Jenny Holzer / Brand X Editions, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York