Mel Wieland
“Shut up or I’ll leave you on the side of the road (and the wolves will come and eat you)”
Mel Wieland, born in 1996 in Geneva, is a trans scenographer, painter and microtechnician of Swiss-Peruvian origin.
In his pictorial works, Mel addresses the theme of educational violence. Its intention is to challenge laws regarding children’s rights as well as any form of supposedly educational coercion.
It highlights threats often perceived as insignificant, such as “Shut up or I’ll leave you on the side of the road and the wolves will come and eat you”, and denounces these small actions taken in the name of good, including physical punishments inflicted to correct a person’s behavior.
Mel also highlights the practice of torture frequently inflicted in times of war on those designated as enemies. This cycle of violence, widely accepted and perpetuated within society, is experienced directly or indirectly by everyone, then reproduced, particularly when we access positions of authority such as those of parent, guardian, teacher or employer. This violence, encountered from childhood and accepted over time, is tolerated from our hierarchical superiors, our law enforcement and our governments.
Mel calls for questioning these social norms and considering non-violent alternatives in education and power relations, emphasizing that torture is a war crime severely condemned by international law.
HEAD Artists 2024
Agathe Heilmann
What connection is there between a place and what we do there? When it comes to torture and ill-treatment, none. Any space, whether an old school, a hospital or a prison, can be hijacked to become the scene of violence. For the Artists Against Torture association, I...
Elisa Pournin
HEAD Artists 2024
Loane Colatruglio
A world without cages is a work that approaches the notion of torture in an open manner with different perspectives, inviting the viewer to reflect on this powerful subject. By connecting the series of numbered points, a meaningful sentence emerges. These quotes offer...
Weiyu Chen
In the work, OKMAN is a calm, neutral figure who expresses his inner emotions and perception of the world through body language. This reserved character symbolizes the fear and shyness of each individual victim of abuse. But whether individually or collectively, we...
Marta Silva Coelho
For some time now, my projects have been carried out in collaboration with other people, where the exchange becomes fundamental and an innovative driving force. Relationships with others are built on a horizontal plane, which allows me to access their personal...
Razene El Mestaysser
The first step to achieve violence, hatred, torture even to the point of genocide is dehumanization. Unfortunately, it is a practice that is far too commonplace, particularly against racialized people. In my project I wanted to question the empathy of spectators by...
Iris Nguyen Van and Alice Malherbe
The two of us worked on this project because it particularly affected us. This series of photographs denounces violence against women around the world, based on certified statistics which interact with the photos. We really wanted to create a strong contrast with, on...
Sandra Lumingu
In this project I question the problem of online and offline surveillance as well as the memory of gestures in spaces where torture has taken place. Based on real places where lives were shattered, I generated fictitious places using artificial intelligence, in which...
Olha Melnyk (Nina Mári)
My artistic practice is based on research into social processes. I find the method of using bright colors to highlight a problematic topic to be very effective. After all, the human eye prefers a "beautiful" image. Thus, I seem to seduce the spectator who, without...