“The migrant crisis has prompted artists to ask us to think about our shared humanity. This video explores the significance of clicking on online images.”
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Hayman’s practice is underpinned by extensive research and he produces a range of ‘epistemic objects’ or ‘research artworks’. In other words, he makes artworks to investigate the subject of his study, linking practical outcomes in a virtuous circle. This video artwork is a response to the migrant crisis and the death of the threeyear-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi. It takes as its starting point an artwork, as is usual with my work, and explores synergies between the artwork and events. The artwork I chose is Goya’s Dog, or El Perro or Perro Semihundido. It is one of Goya’s so-called ‘Black Paintings’. It is an intensely moving painting where the dog is given almost human like expression in the way it looks up tragically pleading for help. I usually spend a huge amount of time researching each artwork, and this one is no exception. But, whereas the research usually results in an artwork, in this case the research is the artwork.
Image Titles: # 1 – DOG Year: 2017 Media: Video artwork.