Images courtesy of the artist and Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto; more
See also:
Stephen Andrews, Platform Gallery, Seattle, WA; more
Cultural Politics
Vol. 2, No. 3, November 2006
[Download $ at Ingenta]
STEPHEN ANDREWS WAS BORN IN 1956 IN SARNIA, ONTARIO, CANADA. HE HAS EXHIBITED HIS ARTWORK IN CANADA, THE U.S., BRAZIL, SCOTLAND, FRANCE, AND JAPAN. HE IS REPRESENTED IN THE COLLECTIONS OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA, AS WELL AS MANY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS. HIS WORK DEALS WITH MEMORY, IDENTITY, TECHNOLOGY, AND THEIR REPRESENTATIONS IN VARIOUS MEDIA.
> BASED ON A TRUE STORY
In the days following the bombings on the London Underground in 2005, I was astounded by the telling and retelling, and then the amending and re-amending, of that “story”: the killing of a Brazilian man, Jean de Menezes. What was exceptional was the short timeframe in which these different versions emerged. Initially we were told the shooting had been “directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation” and that upon leaving the apartment that was under surveillance, Mr. de Menezes matched the description of one of the suspects being sought. It was later revealed that his identity couldn’t be confirmed because the officer was “relieving himself” at the time. Scotland Yard said de Menezes’ “clothing and behaviour” added to their suspicions. By the time de Menezes had walked to Stockwell Underground station, there had been a positive identification. He (or a police officer) vaulted over the turnstile at the subway (or not, depending on whom you listened to). He ran to catch the train unaware that he was being “hotly pursued” by officers. The fact that he wasn’t wearing suspicious clothing, hadn’t refused to obey police instructions, wasn’t running from police and wasn’t their man in the first place seemed to have been overlooked in the initial police account. This was admitted to later, after documents were leaked and CCTV footage contradicted the police statements.
