Lydia Venieri: "Free the Panchen Lama"

                                                    Lydia Venieri's "Free the Panchen Lama"

Greek-born artist Lydia Venieri's massive photographs on satin examine state-perpetrated violence through the eyes of children's dolls.

Her disturbing juxtaposition of the innocence of childhood with examples of aggressive invasion and war around the world shatters mainstream images normalizing state violence. Violent nations use militarized education, media, sporting events and other forms of socialization to encourage the acceptance of state violence as a "natural" feature of our domestic and global landscapes.

Venieri, a New York-based artist awakens us from the desensitization that results from the daily bombardment of dressed-up images of militarism and war by reminding us of our child's heart.

On May 14, 1995, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was named the 11th Panchen Lama by the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. A few days later, Chinese authorities arrested Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and removed his family from Tibet. He has not been seen since May 17, 1995.