Jeff Wall is a Canadian photographer and painter. He has also won awards such as the Hasselblad Award. He continued his studies in the field of art history at the University of British Columbia and the Courtauld Art Institute in the doctoral level. "Destroyed Room" is his first remarkable work which was shown in his first solo exhibition in 1978 and made him famous. This photo, like other works by Wall (after that until today), is staged and has overt and hidden references to art history and philosophical reflections on the issue of representation. In this image, we see a contemporary account of the experience of chaos and confusion in the painting "The Death of Sardana Palos" (1827), by Eugene Delacroix.

The destroyed room/ 1978

Both in his artistic life and as a theoretician, Jeff Wall has deep relations with philosophy, and among the philosophers, he has been most influenced by the German-Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). "Walter Benjamin" differentiates between immediate everyday experience (Erlebuis) and original or philosophical experience (Erfahrung). The true purpose of Benjamin's works is to turn everyday experience into real experience. Finding a special face in everyday life. Finding "history" in the heart of purely historical affairs, in order to recover the repressed forces of the past, to build a better future.

A sudden gust of wind (in memory of Hokusai)/ 1993

"wall" tries his work style between conceptualism and realism. Because of his theoretical inclinations, he deliberately creates images that are believable and appealing to the viewer; Like the presented photo, which is an artistic reinterpretation of the classic Basmei painting by Hokusai, a Japanese artist.

Katsushika Hokusai/ Ejiri in Suruga Province/ The 36th part of the Mount Fuji collection/ 1830/ Technique: Woodblock

Most of Wall's photos were taken in his hometown, Vancouver, a city with little history (about 100 years). This photo was taken in an international and very important economic port, which is connected to the Pacific Ocean and the population of Native Americans, Asians and European peoples. Depicting the photo in this place and replacing the leaves and trees of Hokusai's image with paper and telephone poles symbolically presented cultural changes and sudden technological invasions; And it has given a new meaning as the cleverness of this work.

Prepared and arranged by: Mrs. Narges Saheb Ekhtiari