I Steal From History To Look At The Present

When the US seized Baghdad, the soldiers celebrated by destroying art.

Removing contemporary politics, this destruction illustrates how little has changed psychologically in the 1500 years since the barbarian sack of Rome. With one notable difference. Rome was destroyed by uneducated warriors. In Baghdad, it was stage-managed for TV.

This was my inspiration for Monumental Nobodies.

Punctuating an arc through triumph and failure, the monuments that map the rise and fall of Empires seem somehow more poignant when the event for which they were created has faded into history. With their conscious symbolism, they provide the foundation for a revisionist take on the notions of beauty, pride, and nationalism.

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