Visiting Artist Wafaa Bilal
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 10:26AM 
Artist Wafaa Bilal visited East Carolina University this past week. We had the pleasure of having him here in the photography department. Wafaa is an amazing and courageous and talented artist who is currently an assistant professor at the Tisch School of Arts, NYU.
" Wafaa Bilal's childhood in Iraq was defined by the horrific rule of Saddam Hussein, two wars, a bloody uprising, and time spent interned in chaotic refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Bilal eventually made it to the U.S. to become a professor and a successful artist, but when his brother was killed at a U.S. checkpoint in 2005, he decided to use his art to confront those in the comfort zone with the realities of life in a conflict zone. Thus the creation and staging of "Domestic Tension," an unsettling interactive performancepiece: for one month, Bilal lived alone in a prison cell-sized room in the line of fire of a remote-controlled paintball gun and a camera that connected him to internet viewers around the world. Visitors to the gallery and a virtual audience that grew by the thousands could shoot at him 24 hours a day. The project received overwhelming worldwide attention, garnering the praise of the Chicago Tribune, which called it "one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time," and Newsweek's assessment "breathtaking." It spawned provocative online debates and ultimately, Bilal was awarded the Chicago Tribune's Artist of the Year Award."
See here for more of his work:
His latest book, "Shoot an Iraqi" can be viewed and purchased her. Check him out. He's fabulous!
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