Lynette Wallworth's 'Evolution of Fearlessness

In this still filmwork, Lynette Wallworth filmed portraits of 11 women who originated from countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and El Salvad who have lived through wars, survived concentration camps or extreme violence. The main focus of this piece is to show the state of terror and loss. The significance of this work is that these women who have now emigrated to Australia now have a chance at life. They have adapted a feeling of strength and fearlessness.

The piece is built around the importance of gesture, it provides a insight into the lives of the women contained the piece, whose stories we were given glimpses of but whose lips don't speak. The work is an intimate reveal of strength of the human spirit. In the work, the viewer enters a dark room in order to learn about the trials and stories of women who have survived war zones.

Evolution of Fearlessness contains the depth and volume and movement, it is more realistic and relates to the aspects of humanism which came about from the Renaissance, which focuses on the human, realistic aspects of art.

Evolution of Fearlessness is all about connecting with these women who have suffered so much, by viewing this work we are able to see their experiences, faith and strength written on their faces. This is a prime example of humanism, as the whole purpose of humanism is to be able to relate to the viewers, and to be able to spread a message that is relateable to the audience.

For The Love Of God- Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst's recent sculpture "For the Love Of God" is a life size diamond encrusted skull worth over 100 million dollars, making it the most expensive contemporary art work ever made. The sculpture features a human scull covered in a platinum cast and 8,601 diamonds. The sculpture is entirely set with diamonds aside for the human teeth. This theme of death is not rare for Damien Hirst as the majority of his work is related to death. The reason why Hirst wanted to encrust diamonds into a skull is because he thought that it would be a good thing to do, he figured that death is such a heavy subject and so it would be good to make something that laughed in the face of it."

This sculpture is quite controversial as many believe that there is no point of spending that much money on a piece of art, what is the purpose of being that extravagent when you can spend money on so many better things. Another factor that questions the morality of the sculpture is the blood diamond issue, how thousands of people die every month getting these diamonds and the ongoing battle over the African Blood Diamond. Many also accuse Hirst of simply making the diamond encrusted skull for fame and wealth rather than for making art.

Personally I believe that even though the sculpture may look appealing and attractive, the motive behind it doesn't justify the suffering that thousands of people had to suffer just to get the diamonds. Through this piece we are able to see just how far Hirst would go to make some money, especially when he priced the piece for far more than what its even worth. Maybe the work wouldn't be so controversial if diamonds were an easily accessible resource, but they aren't and I don't see the point of spending that much on a piece of art that could've easily been made with another source. If anything, Hirst is almost glorifying death, enriching a human skull in diamonds.