Free and Equal?
These artworks are also my personal response and channeling down my voice as an artist into a childhood object I used to play. Matchstick as a symbolic object is an instrument to start a fire, a spark and it can also represent the burning desire of every person. — Louie Talents
In his new art project using matchsticks as medium, the artist comes out with a triptych. Basically, a triptych is made up of three associated artworks and Louie Talents has been working on his triptych — (1) Je suis Charlie, (2) Friday the 13, and (3) Libres et Égaux? In the broader spectrum, these artworks deal with the global issues of liberty, equality and unity.
An Art Project in Series
Louie Talents in the statement below gives an overview about his art project in series.
“ For this art project there are three artworks. Yep, it’s a triptych. The first series is entitled “JE SUIS CHARLIE” which is my personal response on walking the streets of Paris during the rally. It consists of 5,000 pieces of matchsticks.
Then, the terror attack in Paris took place again and then I made an artwork which is in response to the incident entitled “FRIDAY THE 13” as the incident took place on a Friday the 13th. There are 450 matchsticks; 130 of which are matchstick which I wrote the names of the dead and around 320 are matchstick of which I wrote “je suis blessé” or in English, “i am wounded.”
The 3rd artwork is the final piece of this triptych artwork which is a collaborative artwork between French children who participated by writing their thoughts on freedom of expression as well as guests on the first opening, friends and responses on social media. There are 900 matchsticks on the last piece entitled “LIBRES ET ÉGAUX?” which means “Free and Equal? ”
Freedom of Expression by Declaration
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 Freedom of Expression states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Freedom of Expression is seen us a vital right to achieve other human rights. However, this fundamental human right is limited if it conflicts with other rights. Under Freedom of Expression, censorship or restrictions are imposed to protect the rights or reputations of others, national security, public order, public health and morals. Stated further, there must be a legitimate aim and true necessity to limit the right to freedom of expression. I won’t dive into the details of this Declaration here. Nevertheless, it makes me and perhaps you ponder — have we been conscious enough to realize how the right to Freedom of Expression and its underlying conditions have been misused to protect and pursue personal interests and illegitimate aims in various situations throughout the history and at present times?
Free and Equal? — A Contemporary Art Exhibit
Libres et Égaux? A Contemporary Art Exhibit by Louie Talents is a one month exhibit opened on the 28th of April 2016, Thursday at 6:00 P.M. in Brest — France.
Libres et Égaux? (Free and Equal?) is a collaborative art project between the public and the artist named Louie Talents who is currently based in France. In this art project, the artist encourages the populace to express their thoughts or opinions on what freedom of expression means for them, which I also participated.The context of this artwork also is to raise public awareness on issues of terrorism and violence and the call for unity and truth.
Artist’s Statement:
The 3rd artwork resembles an absence
of the broken pencil, or the external image of the first artwork of this series. It represents what has been happening outside-after the incident.
It can be viewed in 3 ways:
First, the matchstick on the left symbolizes that with the passing of Artists’ in Charlie Hebdo massacre, a new generation of artist will emerge and will continue expressing their right to Freedom of Expression. These are personally written by French children ages 6 to 9 of which I collaborated with a French philosopher, friends, guests and responses from social media.
Second, the matchstick on the right is a way to raise public awareness over world attention that the terrorist attack and senseless killings in Paris are also happening in other parts of the world since November 13 until at present — recently, in Belgium, in Pakistan, in Ivory Coast, in Russia, in Cameroon, in Nigeria and in Mali.The color of the matchsticks corresponds to the color of their flag, date of the incident, and the number of casualties. A life lost in Africa is equally the same life lost in Paris yet the world is silent about these.
And lastly, these incidents inflict fear to divide humanity. The important part is how we respond positively to these incidents for unity towards humanity.
Freedom of Expression?
I asked Louie Talents a few questions about the Libres et Égaux? art project.
Who are the nationals participated in Libres et Égaux? and could you name them all in series beginning with the one with the most participants?
French people wrote a lot on the 3rd artwork, followed by Cagayanons (people from the city of Cagayan de Oro), then foreign nationals like Australian, Canadian, and other nationals who are my friends around the globe.
(I asked a question on the same context. For this, the artist emphasized the direction of this art project.)
Honestly, I rather not mention the nationality in detail as my intention and progression of the work speaks about unity towards humanity. And that’s where the artwork is moving forward…
What is the common word/phrase expressed through this art project to define freedom of expression for them?
For French people mostly words like amour or love, equality, brotherhood and all French kids, mostly their names that they are positive about freedom of expression as explained by the French philosopher to them. And Cagayanons, mostly phrases pertaining to personal belief, phrase from the bible, some are names and others are in Bisaya language, etc.
What is freedom of expression for you?
For me, I rather not briefly explain this for now, as I am thinking to do a last piece of this series in America.
[If the embedded video doesn’t appear above, please click here.]
“The pen is mightier than the sword.”
The best way for me to externally examine liberty and equality is to relate the story of my country and people in the pursuit of freedom by turning back the page and unfolding it forward. Any countries (i.e. Native America) who experienced oppression by the conquistadors, and everyone who are affected by global exploitation would know in their heart and relate to these struggles.
The occupation of Spaniards in the Philippine archipelago has led to the cultural and religious indoctrination of the people. We could only look back through our history books and realize the struggles brought by these illegitimate authorities who sought to impose their power and supremacy by enslaving humanity. Despite that, the power of truth and love rose above the circumstance. One remarkable Filipino revolutionary protagonist during the Spanish colonization recognized the power of pen to fight for freedom. He was Dr. Jose Rizal and for him, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
He wrote a letter to his friend Blumentritt saying,
“I think I will write for my people. I must awaken the spirit of my people from its sleep.”
In his novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Dr. Jose Rizal expressed the pains and the hopes of the oppressed Filipinos. When his friend Dr. Tavera told him about his fellowmen being punished for reading his book, he said,
“I showed in my book the wrong things done by the friars. This made them angry. So they said I attacked the church and that my book is not good. God should not be used to excuse wrong behavior.”
Noli Me Tangere was evaluated by a friar under the order of the Governor-General with a final verdict that the book should not be sold and circulated. A lot of suppression on freedom of expression imposed during those times. After various foreign occupations, the Philippines was granted Independence. But are we then free and equal?
What is more painful than to be betrayed by your own people and by your own blood? We’ve seen in the course of history how our own leaders have been blinded by their personal interests and how this brought to division and turmoil. Furthermore, we realized that some outside forces have been exploiting and infiltrating this little country of ours through strategies of silent war. Freedom of Expression might have been improved by liberty from authoritarian conquistadors, but in a subtle way it was and is still undermined. An audacious threat to freedom of expression occurred under the Martial Law, so, people rise in power to overthrow the old administration and system that sprung to Democracy. But are we then free and equal?
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”— Goethe
In the global scenario, we have been programmed to see that we are free, but in a subtle way we are exploited and enslaved. They call it modern slavery and it involves deception, infiltration, psychological operations and other rule by secrecy strategies. Because of the fear from these external threats people may not feel free to express themselves, freedom of expression is violated and threatened, universal human rights are applied unequally and the truth is frequently challenged by disinformation, diversion, distortion, deception and illegitimate interference. However, humanity today are consciously evolving and awakening to realize these. There is an apparent comprehension on the challenge to rise above mental slavery and see beyond what we are being told by our government, the corporate funded mainstream media and organizations and the illegitimate or unreliable authorities. Moreover, as Mahatma Gandhi said, “turn the spotlight inward.”
Freely manifest one’s inner truth
An ancient adage says— “Truth is hidden in obscurity.” Seers, sages and wise men often tell us that the world isn’t what we think it is and although there are many realities based on our perceptions, there is only one reality and one truth which can only be accessed through the heart. For me, this is how I perceive freedom of expression — to freely manifest one’s inner truth, in a simple word — love.
We often heard people telling us to follow our heart. But we never had or have any idea what freedom and love really is, do we?
When I express myself like when I write and truly connect within my heart, I become a different person I never thought I would be with the influence of my egotistic minds. There is freedom within at some point of my existence, which is the emancipation from mental slavery. And for that, I express my inner truth — love — unconditional love that transcends darkness to light.
It is said that man is on a lifelong amnesia and life is a journey of remembering who we are — our inner truth. This inner truth, which is love would open the door to great infinite knowledge and wisdom long hidden to man. This is not out of Science for the logical minds. Indeed, the heart holds the largest electromagnetic field in the body, about 60x electrically greater and 5000x magnetically stronger than the brain.
In Louie Talents video presentation for the Je suis Charlie art project, the philosopher he collaborated with, Yan Marchand talked about the importance of guiding the children to freely express themselves by allowing them to be in silence and seek from within. This can be applied to anyone at any age.
My intention and progression of the work speaks about unity towards humanity. And that’s where the artwork is moving forward. — Louie Talents
In support for a greater cause to promote unity towards humanity, I will share here a part of my ongoing research in the pursuit of truth and liberty. It is said that the world is just an illusion and that the way to see the true reality and live in harmony is to lift the veil of illusion and division. I found out that different people and sectors in the society are talking about this.
There are three classes of people: those who see; those who see when they are shown; those who do not see. ~ Leonardo da Vinci
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. ~ Albert Einstein
The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, causing all beings, by His illusive power (Maya), to revolve as if mounted on a machine. ~Bhagavad Gita Ch.18, verse 61
When they see a sign they turn away and say: Prolonged illusion!~ Sūrat al-Qamar Ch. 54, verse 2
Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts;but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.~ 2 Corinthians 3:15–17
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ~ Carl Jung
Know, O man, that light is thine heritage, know that darkness is only a veil, Sealed in thine heart is brightness eternal, waiting the moment of freedom to conquer, waiting to rend the veil of the night. ~ Thoth
May this Art Project and this article spark the fire in you to take the path to a deeper and clearer journey of what you seek.
For anyone near or travelling Brest — France, check out Louie Talents one month art exhibit. (See poster for details)
*All images in this article were provided by Louie Talents with his permission to use.
