Humanity / human right
Genf, Switzerland
Text, paper, 2019
In 2019, the group exhibition Perspective opened at the Icelandic embassy in Geneva. Ásthildur Jónsdóttir curated the exhibition under the theme of “human rights.” In 2020, the works were displayed again, this time in the headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva. Jóna Hlíf exhibited five text works which centred on wordplay and speculations based on texts concerning constitutional law and human rights.
All the works touch on a tension or paradox in the issues raised, whether it be political discussion on the constitution of Iceland, women’s rights, or environmental policies. Laws and human rights are represented under the banner of logic, constancy, and flawlessness. Laws are the immovable cornerstone of a society; human rights are the laws of the international society. In its own way, the works, with their wordplay, address the image of contemporary human rights and constitutional law by presenting paradoxical images of law and politics.
The works “Safe harassments Clean threats,” and “Healthy intimidation Sustainable violence” are made from pairing concepts from the document, Framework Principles on Human Rights, and the Environment (2018). These works are based on two kinds of words. On the one hand, there are general adjectives describing desirable goals in environmental matters. On the other hand, there are nouns describing undesirable effects on the environment. Those words are constantly repeated in the framework principles. When they are put together however, we get a paradox, a tension. And even a clearer idea of the principles of modernity, of our present.
The work, “Women shall be the object of special respect,” is also a direct quote, this time from the Geneva Convention, which is meant to ensure human rights in the state of war. “There is such a tension in this sentence, it disturbs me,” Jóna Hlíf says. “And it is strange to imagine that the law still contains these words. There is something ‘right’ to be found in the last words of the sentence, i.e., that women should receive special respect, but at the same time it contains a great deal of mansplaining. You have to remind yourself regularly why this sentence was composed and for which occasion.”
The work “Law may never prescribe the death penalty” is a special translation (not an official one) of an article in the Icelandic constitution regarding the prohibition of the death penalty. “Even if many people find the constitution deeply flawed it also contains some golden words like these,” Jóna Hlíf explains.
The work “With reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit” is quoted directly from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. “I often think about these words. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree. But this is somehow the essence of it all: we should treat others like we treat ourselves, like we are all in the same boat and in the same team. I cut out the word “brotherhood” at the end, it makes the sentence more abstract and thought-provoking. The work “Just people, just human beings and systems they create” are on the other hand, words that often go through my mind when I watch and listen to people in interviews and television shows, telling us what the world is all about. I sometimes imagine: what if these words were always on display in the background? Something about this phrase touches on the foundations of human rights and constitutional law but also implies that most works of men are rather peculiar, even artificial like all systems.”
Photocredit: Vigfús Birgisson