With Coloured Vases (2009), Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) challenges cultural beliefs about rarity and historical value by dipping seven Han Dynasty era vases into buckets of industrial paint, depriving the objects of their past and besmirching their historic value. What remains beneath the paint, like history itself, is no longer visible yet still present. The power to make the unseen seen lies entirely in the viewer’s hands in Intentionally Left Blanc (2012) by Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976), which utilizes a retro-reflective screen printing process that reveals the full image only when illuminated, often by the flash of a camera. In Catherine Opie’s (b. 1961) hands, the camera and resultant photograph of Pig Pen (Tattoos) (2009) expose a subculture with delicacy, giving voice to identity and representation.

Employing disparate styles, Kerry James Marshall’s (b. 1955) As Seen on TV (1998-2000), Gilbert & George’s (1967) Bomb (2006), and Mike Kelley’s (1954-2012) Timeless/Authorless (1995) all investigate the role of media to influence perspective. The title of Marshall’s memorial to four young girls killed in the 1963 bombing of an African American church by the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham, Alabama, draws explicit attention to the power of the media to shape opinion. Originally intended to reflect the daily exposure to the threat of bombs and terror alerts in London, Gilbert and George’s colossal 14.6 m (48 ft) work also stands as a memorial to lives lost in the growing cultural acclimatization to a global atmosphere of violence. Kelley presents various news articles, narratives and even restaurant reviews sourced from newspapers of the cities that played a part in the artist’s life together with random images, many culled from high school yearbooks, in newspaper format to legitimize the disjointed, often transgressive, content.
 

Book your tour here