Contemporary Conflict Re-Representation

A number of drawings started in the summer of 2011 were brought together under the generic title “Baghdad Car Re-Representation” (BCRR). These derived initially from studies of Baghdad 5.March 2007 in the Imperial War Museum North. This museum display, also known as ‘Baghdad Car’ consisted of the remains of a car that was destroyed in a car bomb explosion in the cultural area of Baghdad in 2007 that was later acquired by peace activists in Holland and then by the New Museum in New York who then commissioned the artist Jeremy Deller to make the work that became the published text: It is What it is: Conversations about Iraq.
A number of drawings developed from of these works  considering the relationship between ‘Baghdad Car’ and nearby displays that were concerned with the Western Front in 1916, and the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001. These drawings are collectively referred to as ‘Behind Baghdad Car Re- Representation’ (BBCRR).
These BBCRR drawings were further extended by a consideration of the ways in which the impact of contemporary conflict has been represented in a range of cultural practices. These included: ARR from My Neck is Thinner than a Hair – A History of Bombs in the Lebanese Wars 1975-1991 found in the Atlas Project Archive developed by Walid Raad, HRR from a photograph of a Taliban attack by Luc Delahoye in 2011, JKRR from a John Keane painting made in Iraq in 1991, HLRR from The Hurt Locker made by Kathryn Bigelow in 2008, and B42RR from Bluestone 42 on BBC3. These works were made using an IPad drawing app. to reinforce the impact of a mediating process.