Untitled #27 (Unknown Rebel)

On June 5, 1989, the day after the Chinese government began a violent crackdown on student-led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, a lone protester stood in the middle of a wide avenue, halting a column of tanks. Footage of the incident spread rapidly around the world and became an iconic representation of the power and risks of individual nonviolent action in the face of overwhelming force. Josh Azzarella digitally altered the famous film to remove the tanks, mirroring the deliberate misrepresentation of history by the Chinese government, which refused to acknowledge the events surrounding Tiananmen Square.