Saint Hoax is a Syrian artist that depicts controversial issues on his/her work. The series we studied in class was in regards to gender equality called “Make America Mysognistic again” in which Ads from the 1950s-60s in America were combined with Donald Trump quotes in other to complement the sexism in both of them. Saint Hoax, although being Syrian, likes to explore American culture and its influence. We discussed how this may be due to his personal experience because of the military influence that America used to have.
Saint Hoax has produced a range of other works like “Happily Never After” or “War Drags You Out”. In both of these instances, iconic figures were used to shed light upon issues such as domestic abuse and conflict. Saint Hoax uses relatability as a factor to drive his work as it allows people to make more of a personal connection.
I think he raises a really good question about who should be held accountable when someone is offended by work. A lot of his work is quite controversial and offends people in several situations. However we have studied that many texts have had unpredictable consequences. On one hand, authors have an intent when publishing their work and they may not have intended to offend someone. In this case should they be let off the hook? On the other hand, published work can have an affect on the general public, in which case should the audience be accounted for more?
We also began to discuss this is relation to cultural appropriation. As an Indian, I would take no offence if anyone wanted to buy Indian clothes. Some African Americans take it very personally when people wear braids and dreads etc, however I think it is quite unnecessary. Then again, we need to consider whether the audience of something also has a say in the way they perceive things.
All in all I think Saint Hoax causes us to reconsider our perspective on several world issues.
