Anthony Schrag

This work is available to view online or by request.
This work is framed in a black frame with is white window mount and is glazed.

Changing Ideas Award
Around the world, across multiple borders and boundaries, there are skirmishes and full blown wars that aim to control land or people; to steal or decimate resources; and/or to obliterate certain politics and reimagine certain narratives: Palestine, Ukraine, Lebanon, Chagos Islands, Iran. Denmark. It can feel a bit bleak, and there is a palpable sense of impotence that anyone could actually do anything about any of it - not politicians nor activists. And within this bin-fire of geopolitics and genocide, art can seem the most impotent.
The notion that art can feasibly or effectively change the world is debatable, but I do believe it can offer different perspectives on seemingly intractable problems; it helps us to step sideways. In Trickers Makes This World (2010) Lewis Hide suggests that artists should be ‘tricksters’ whose purpose is not to operate for any specific political stance or cultural authority, but instead to provide a ‘disruptive imagination’ that allows a space to imagine a different and better world.
In this way, this work offers a humorous and alternative perspective on national sovereignty. It draws attention to the very real power grabs of global powers, and makes it ridiculous. I take heart from what the artist David Sherry once said to me - he said: “Anthony, as artists, we’re involved in a serious piece of nonsense.” In situating this nonsense next to the very real social concerns, I hope it provides the mental space to ‘think difference’ about those political contexts that can sometimes paralyse us because they are too big, too depressing, or too overwhelming. - the artist