"Man Down" Exhibition
Blackburn 20|20
This event has ended.
"War at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most terrible." Abraham Lincoln, June 16, 1864, speech at Philadelphia.
"March 20, 2003 marked the beginning of the American lead invasion of Iraq. We are fast approaching the seven year mark of a war whose human cost has been as tragic and terrible to the citizens and soldiers bombarded with the day to day horror of survival as any of the epic wars on which we define our history. The very nature of war is divisive and dehumanizing, and the war in Iraq is not immune to these qualities nor to fatigue of political and popular support. This exhibition is an attempt by three artists to humanize the war in Iraq.
Artists Tim Klimowicz, Freya Powell, and Wafaa Bilal approach the human cost of war from three unique vantage points. Klimowicz’s work addresses mass multimedia, by beautifully abstracting the sobering sort of game that the Iraq war has become for many Americans. Powell takes it a step closer with work derived from direct correspondence with a childhood friend serving in Iraq, while Bilal’s work takes the most personal form by literally marking the deaths of his fellow countrymen, both Iraqi and American, in the medium of tattoo on his own back.
'Man Down' is the artistic personification of the desire to protect the lives of those around you, and to never leave a man behind. It is an understanding that any one of us could be the next to fall. This exhibition does not take a political side. 'Man Down' sides with humanity rather than the insanity of war." - Phil Sanders, Director, Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.
Bilal is partnering with Rally for Iraq to raise one dollar for every death, represented as a dot tattooed on his back. Rally for Iraq, founded by a group of young Iraqi-Americans, is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring educational opportunities for impoverished Iraqi youth and promoting the development of human capital in Iraq. For more information on Rally for Iraq or to make a donation to the scholarship fund, please visit
[Image: Wafaa Bilal "…and Counting" Tattoo Performance]
Media
Schedule
from March 09, 2010 to April 09, 2010
Opening Reception on 2011-03-09 from 18:00 to 20:00