Identity, politics, rock ‘n roll, soap operas and sentimental songs; humor, hysteria and sincerity. Like a gender-errant Jimi Hendrix, Tracey Rose flips the biblical Battle of Jericho to confront history, oppression and injustice with a generous act of imagination that tears down walls and crosses boundaries of culture, language and difference.
In 2005 Rose decided to fly to Jerusalem to address the political situation of which the wall dividing Israel from Palestine is a symbol. As she recalls, “earlier in the day there are fewer patrols. I painted my body and we hired a car and drove up to the wall at sunrise.” Once there, Rose got out of the car and played the Israeli national anthem on a guitar – badly… Christopher Wessels caught the action on film. Although a guard in a watchtower can be seen in the background of one of Rose’s images, she and her cameraman left the scene without being arrested.
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