The Norwegian artist AFK recently finished the first half (35 meters) of a wall near the new Bergen airport terminal and Choice Comfort Hotel.
About The MuralThe mural came to life thanks to a request from Choice Hotels, in collaboration with UNICEF, wanted raise awareness in an effort to protect children from human trafficking. The name of their collaboration is “Sweet Dreams”. For this reason the mural is titled “Empire of Sweet Dreams”.
The mural contains several signs that refers to political and social issues, like the fear used to easily control people and take them to accept solutions that they may normally resist. For instance the fear of terrorism permits higher surveillance measures. Another reference is the complaint of organizations such as DynCorp International, an American private military contractor accused of rewarding companies that traffic in women and little girls. The artist also accuses alliance between nation’s military and the arms industry.
Furthermore there are citations to relevant events that have revealed uncomfortable truths, such as doubts on what we do not know about 9/11, or the Wikileaks Podesta emails that are the source of the public investigation as known as #pizzagate.
However, there is also the lure of something positive. In the red world held up by the girl, in fact, is marked Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site in Turkey, that is going to upend the conventional view of the rise of civilization. That refers to the need, to know who we are and where we are going, in order to understand our history.Essentially the artist’s goal is to raise consciousness. He says: “To sustain a healthy society, critical and free thought must be nurtured and given space to grow.” The piece is also interactive with QR scan-codes to background info.
About The Artist
AFK is a Bergen based street artist and activist. He has established himself as one of the leading street artists coming out of Norway. He is known for his large murals and classic, monochrome stencils often with just a touch of color and laced with political undertones.
