RE: "As you died burning," a Memorial
What a fucking powerful work...
A bird's eye view of what's going on in Iraq. The details and shape of each tile resemble a Mosque. And how they were so close to each other shows their strong beliefs in their religion. The surroundings are burnt, tore down, destroyed... but there are still houses with people inside. People who have no other choice but to stay. Houses with still lights inside them..Houses with hope.. I can see people praying inside despite the war around them, thus, the gold. The gold plates are shouting "Hey there are civilians around! They aren't targets but they will be torn in between anyway."
The use of clay, which is an important part of Islamic art, was also the perfect medium to use. Heavy, of course it should be heavy! Literally and emotionally.
The use of the brown fabric (Abacca fabric?) and the branches around shows the Iraq environment.. the war torn country prevented from growing... at least for now..
I wonder, does the placement of gold mean anything? I can't read it but it looks like an Islamic calligraphy to me. Of course it does mean something, I believe you won't just randomly put the gold there. ;) Is it an important Islamic proverb? Does it say 'peace' or 'war'? I'm curious.
Also, thank you so much for sharing your experience! I don't know what to say about it. Just keep on sharing it, would looove to read more. And I guess it will be helpful to you, too.
Lastly, thank you for sharing the process. We have a minor in sculpture and I know THAT is no easy process! It requires a lot of patience as it includes a lot of trial-and-errors as well.
Great job both on the way you executed it and the concept. Very well done!
Thanks, @hiddenblade. I did a little edit at the end to mention our interpreter. It's hard for me to get these longer posts right until I actually see them out of the editor format.
Thanks for noting the symbolism in the work.
You caught all of the details that I included in its creation, and then forgot to talk about.
I do like it when other people pick out the symbolism in my work though: it's re-assuring as a creator to know those details aren't overlooked. So very perceptive of you, and thank you.
When creating, I had actually considered spelling an Islamic word in the gold leaf, but as someone who would have had to rely on the internet to get the actual word, and working in spaces as precarious as the "in-betweens" of the tile ridges, I ran the risk of making the word illegible or worse, accidentally spelling something else.
However, the use of gold leaf does hold symbolism in my sculptural work, and it is a recurring theme. See my work
https://steemit.com/life/@corpsvalues/lilies-of-the-field
For me, gold represents the value of the soul/human spirit/innocence.
I frame gold with corrosion and patina (the opposite of what you usually see from a classical gallery, with gold framing)
The corrosion represents the effect that human experiencing has in formulating our identity and character: it scars us, but adds beauty in its own way, when those experiences make us stronger.
The next sculptural piece I share will continue this theme in a way, addressing it directly.
Pre-college/military I was very much into Eastern/Byzantine icons. You will see a lot of gold leafing in the work of those artists, and again very rich in symbolism.
Oh wow.. interpreters definitely have hard jobs too.
I assume you didn't explain all the conceptual details for the audience to think and engage deeply with the work. As an artist, I love doing that. I also love when the audiences picked up the symbolism, that's why I wrote this comment to tell you that I got it! And you did a great job with it.
Ah yeah, I get that too. It needs a very deep research just to get the words right. Yeah it actually is a lot better to just think of something else for the leaf, rather than making a mistake and spelling something else.
Beautiful use of gold. The soul will always stand out in the darkness...
I agree, we may feel like we are trapped because of those horrible experiences, but yes it made us stronger indeed.
Thanks for sharing more about your work. So lovely to gain insights from it. I'm looking forward to those works of yours! :)