Wafaa Bilel Lecture Response

• ·       I do not remember a specific quote that interested me the most, but the discussion of bringing the conflict zone into the comfort zone was the most interesting and touching to me. As a child of a military family, the conflict zone has never been far my comfort zone here at home. Much like Bilel, I found myself struggling with the concept of going on with my normal life when members of my family are still in harms way. It feels like you are split between places. Your safety zone becomes grounds for your guilt, anxiety, and the images you try to ignore. This feeling of having the military conflict looming over your life is something I find unique to the families involved in the conflict today, as many people don’t have anything personally invested in this “war”, and therefore ignore it because it is too much or it is up to the politicians, etc. Bilel bringing the conflict into our view by means of our familiar world, like video games or websites, forces the people who don’t want to look to at least glimpse at the ethical and political connotations of our current situation in Iraq or Afghanistan. In turn, they will hopefully become involved or aware.  This is something I appreciate deeply.
  
• ·      Physical, Interactive, and Personal Politics are the three words I would use to describe Bilel’s work.
  
• ·      The most intriguing thing I learned about Wafaa Bilel is that “Shoot an Iraqi” was rooted in his brother’s death, and struggle with dealing with having family caught in the crossfire. Also I found it interesting that Bilel essentially caused himself to form PTSD during the “Shoot an Iraqi” installation because this is an issue that will be relevant on both sides of the conflict into the future.
  
• ·      I did not get the answers to my questions as they were both about pieces he did not touch upon.
  
• ·      Do you (Bilel) think that this interactive work affects people in a more profound manner than classic photography or documentary in the modern era? Why?