Alfredo Jaar

For over two decades, Alfredo Jaar's work has focused on photography as political witness. Born 1956 in Santiago, Chile, and living in New York, he has used a hybrid of installation, photography, text and sculpture to create metaphoric images dealing with the antagonism between industrialized and developing countries. «I witnessed this scene in 1994 in Zaire, today called Congo. A refugee is walking. His appearance is similar to most refugees, with bare feet and a cane. He carries just one bag filled with old garments; he has lost everything. This man was just one out of four million Rwandan refugees seeking refuge outside Rwanda or being displaced within Rwanda. I was unable to assist this man in his desperate journey. I remember him walking.»