Alfredo Jaar's 2014 work Shadows references Koen Wessing's 1978 Nicaragua photograph

Alfredo Jaar created Shadows in 2014, a lightbox artwork measuring 12 by 13 inches featuring a black and white transparency. The piece incorporates a photograph originally taken by Koen Wessing in Estelí, Nicaragua during September 1978. Wessing, a Dutch photographer born in 1942, passed away in 2011. Jaar's work was posted on artcritical.com on February 28, 2015. The artwork is represented by Galerie Lelong, which holds courtesy for both artists. This lightbox presentation transforms Wessing's documentary photograph into a contemporary art object. The original image captures a moment from Nicaragua's historical context in the late 1970s. Jaar's appropriation brings renewed attention to Wessing's photographic legacy through artistic recontextualization.