Alfredo Jaar

“In the mid-nineties I created a series of works based on Life Magazine covers. I had been fascinated with Life Magazine since I moved to New York in 1982. I created a series of exercises around them, based on my interest on what I called then the politics of images. I felt Life Magazine was the perfect tool to reveal and present my ideas around representation of politics and race in American media.

When it was announced that it would cease to publish in 1996, I decided to release these Life Magazine based works.

Five found images in LIFE Magazine, December 5, 1969 is exactly what the title of the work announces. In that particular issue of the magazine, I had found the extraordinary, haunting photographs of the My Lai massacre. In analyzing the contents of the magazine, I discovered four other photographs that I felt resonated in particularly powerful ways with that photograph. 

And that work was born.”

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Artist's Website 
Art21
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Guggenheim

Alfredo Jaar
Five images found in LIFE Magazine, December 5, 1969 
1995-2021
Portfolio with one solar plate etching, one Epson pigment print, two Epson pigment prints on surface gampi with screenprint and one photogravure
15-9/16 x 23-3/8 inches
15-9/16 x 22-1/16 inches
15-9/16 x 21-1/8 inches 
15-9/16 x 18-9/16 inches
Edition: 24
$18,000