Paintings, on police brutality
The following pages offer reproductions of Milica Ružičić’ series of paintings on police brutality. In her introduction to a 2010 gallery exhibit, she says of this series:
Following the news all over the world about the different protests and demonstrations that were suffocated by the police, I realized that the violence of the state is pretty much the same, although the states themselves look differently organized. What I would like to suggest by choosing these scenes is the question: By whose interests are the police guided in these cases?
These news are visible but they are consumed fast and also forgotten quickly. That’s why I wanted to put these pictures in media of painting on canvas. Painting is a medium that lasts much longer than photos in the newspapers or internet, especially if they are sold and then hung on a wall by the owner. Using them as evidence I didn’t want to change anything but the background of each scene, which I left blank, symbolically unifying them. Titles of the paintings are the excerpts from the original news scenes are taken from.
▲ Greece, Athens 2008.
An officer was convicted of murder after the Athens death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos sparked nationwide riots.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimensions: 32x42cm | 2009.
▲ Bangladesh 2007.
Security agencies often intimidate, harass, detain and torture journalists with impunity despite continuous international protests.
Technique:
acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm |
2010.
▲ India, Bangladesh 2010.
Police using batons, tear gas and water cannons fought street battles with 15.000 textile workers demanding back pay and an immediate rise in monthly wages. The workers currently earn a minimum monthly salary of £15 and have demanded a 300 per cent raise.
Technique:
acrylic on canvas | Dimension:
32x42cm |
2010.
▲ Germany, Heiligendamm 2007.
Demonstrations against G8 summit in Heiligendamm. Member of special unit against riots in Germany, unknown police officer has shown his cold-blooded brutality on a young girl during arrest.
Technique:
acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm |
2009.
▲ Israel, Tel Aviv 2008.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2009.
▲ Paraguay, Asuncion 2008.
The police in front of the building of the State General Attorney brutally repressed protesters by beating them, spreading tear gas and shooting rubber bullets from very short distances, resulting in sixty people injured, including women and children.
Technique:
acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2010.
▲ Iran, Tehran 2007.
Police brutality against low-level criminals accused of alcohol-related charges as well as selling satellite dishes.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2009.
▲ Nepal, Kathmandu 2006.
Police in Kathmandu opened fire on tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters who defied a curfew to stage a rally against the rule of King Gyanendra.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2010.
▲ Kenya, Nairobi 2007.
Anti-riot police during protests in the Nairobi’s Kiera slum.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2010.
▲ Denmark, Copenhagen 2009.
Protests as a reaction to the Climate talks summit of UN. 986 were arrested without committing any offense and had been left to sit for hours in a freezing cold street.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2010.
▲ Great Britain, London 2009.
Protests against the G20 summit of the wealthiest states, which generate global policy.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2010.
▲ Tibet, Lhasa 2008.
Chinese police arrest Tibetan monk. Around 130 people have been confirmed killed in a Chinese crackdown on protests and unrest in Tibet. (2010) The demand is urgent because China not only oppresses the Tibetan people, it is also destroying Tibetan culture.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2010.
▲ South Korea, Seoul 2003
South Korean workers and students clash with riot police after an anti government rally. Demonstrators from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and students took to the streets in Seoul to demand better working conditions and to protest the government’s decision to send more troops to Iraq.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm | 2010.
▲ Zimbabwe, Harare 2009.
Zimbabwean police officer about to forcefully use a truncheon on a fleeing demonstrator at the anti-poverty protests, organized by opposition to Mugabe regime.
Technique:
acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm |
2010
▲ Germany, Rostock 2007.
German police clashed with hundreds of protesters in the port of Rostock, following a much larger peaceful demonstration against Group of Eight summit in a nearby Baltic resort.
Technique:
acrylic on canvas | Dimension: 32x42cm |
2009.
▲ Australia, Sydney 2002.
Protests against the meeting of the World Trade Organization. Australian police went in hard against around 500 protesters, arresting 35. The police even used force to bust up the orderly departure of the demonstrators.
Technique: acrylic on canvas | Dimensions: 32x42cm | 2009.
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ISSN 1929-7904 (Print) | ISSN 1929-7912 (Online)