UNFITTED – They Were Here 2024 A tailor measures miniature figurines to make them fit new norms, turning precision into a metaphor for displaced identity reshaping.
SALINE LANDS – The Revolt 2024 A spectral journey through a salt landscape haunted by the Zanj’s final battle, imagining erased bodies and histories beyond the archive.
THE MESSAGE 2022 A contemporary rupture within Mustafa Al-Akkad’s visual language, where childhood innocence, sacred history, and drone warfare collide violently.
MUSICAL MANIFEST 2022 A six-channel installation where clarity and distortion shift across screens, tracing identity between memory, imagination, and displacement.
ANTHEM 2019 A reenactment of an unlikely moment where Iraq’s delegation sang a children’s song in Nazi Germany, questioning national symbols and representation.
CLEANSING 2018 An installation examining “purification” as violent erasure, where a stained canvas reveals pressure to conform and lingering traces.
A VISION OF THE FUTURE 2017 A work about the quiet agony of waiting in suspended time, where movement is controlled and futures are shaped by external forces.
GOLD FEVER, AMMAN 2016 A YouTube-page myth of Ottoman gold along the Hijaz railway. Belief becomes a modern economy, driven by rumor and repetition.
ADHAN 2015 An empty seascape slowly disrupted by bubbles and sound. A distant call to prayer emerges, suggesting a submerged presence or memory.
MICHAEL 2015 Michael Jackson returns in a TV-style interview, speaking only through his lyrics. Pop iconography reflects belief, illusion, and prophecy.
COVER-UP! 2014 A re-staging of Marilyn Monroe’s iconic scene with an Arab male figure and an industrial fan. Desire and gendered representation are displaced.
SYMPHONY 2012 A video memorial responding to the killings of Iraqi teenagers targeted for their “Emo” appearance.
CONSUMPTION OF WAR 2011 Two corporate men duel with fluorescent ceiling lights as improvised sabres until the light is consumed and darkness takes over.
MUSICAL CHAIRS 2011 Elderly men in suits compete for a seat in an endless loop directed by a secretary. Ritual becomes ruthless, a portrait of power, exclusion, and circular politics.
THREE LOVE SONGS 2010 Propaganda songs commissioned to glorify Saddam Hussein, re-sung by Western female performers, revealing desire as power.
PING PONG 2009 Two players volley endlessly over a nude female figure symbolizing Baghdad, turning play into a metaphor for power and civilian harm.
MEMORIAL 2009 An animated reconstruction of a 1991 Baghdad bombardment image, exploring violence, imagination, and the fragile construction of memory.
GREEN MOUSE 2008 A hotel cleaner treats the aftermath of an explosion as routine, revealing how violence becomes normalized in everyday life.
BREAD OF LIFE 2008 Four working cabaret musicians drum on hardened Egyptian bread, turning a sacred staple into a rhythmic instrument.
FOAM 2007 Four Iraqi boys shave foam from black balloons until they burst—an allegory of fragile identities shaped by extremism.
COMMON VOCABULARY 2006 A seven-year-old girl learns the vocabulary of war. Flashcards and a child’s voice reveal how violence enters childhood.
JIHAD 2005 A familiar jihadist video shifts when the militant recites the Qur’an, then sings “This Land Is Your Land” before an American flag.
A tailor measures miniature figurines to make them fit new norms, turning precision into a metaphor for displaced identity reshaping.
A spectral journey through a salt landscape haunted by the Zanj’s final battle, imagining erased bodies and histories beyond the archive.
A contemporary rupture within Mustafa Al-Akkad’s visual language, where childhood innocence, sacred history, and drone warfare collide violently.
A six-channel installation where clarity and distortion shift across screens, tracing identity between memory, imagination, and displacement.
A reenactment of an unlikely moment where Iraq’s delegation sang a children’s song in Nazi Germany, questioning national symbols and representation.
An installation examining “purification” as violent erasure, where a stained canvas reveals pressure to conform and lingering traces.
A work about the quiet agony of waiting in suspended time, where movement is controlled and futures are shaped by external forces.
A YouTube-page myth of Ottoman gold along the Hijaz railway. Belief becomes a modern economy, driven by rumor and repetition.
An empty seascape slowly disrupted by bubbles and sound. A distant call to prayer emerges, suggesting a submerged presence or memory.
Michael Jackson returns in a TV-style interview, speaking only through his lyrics. Pop iconography reflects belief, illusion, and prophecy.
A re-staging of Marilyn Monroe’s iconic scene with an Arab male figure and an industrial fan. Desire and gendered representation are displaced.
A video memorial responding to the killings of Iraqi teenagers targeted for their “Emo” appearance.
Two corporate men duel with fluorescent ceiling lights as improvised sabres until the light is consumed and darkness takes over.
Elderly men in suits compete for a seat in an endless loop directed by a secretary. Ritual becomes ruthless, a portrait of power, exclusion, and circular politics.
Propaganda songs commissioned to glorify Saddam Hussein, re-sung by Western female performers, revealing desire as power.
Two players volley endlessly over a nude female figure symbolizing Baghdad, turning play into a metaphor for power and civilian harm.
An animated reconstruction of a 1991 Baghdad bombardment image, exploring violence, imagination, and the fragile construction of memory.
A hotel cleaner treats the aftermath of an explosion as routine, revealing how violence becomes normalized in everyday life.
Four working cabaret musicians drum on hardened Egyptian bread, turning a sacred staple into a rhythmic instrument.
Four Iraqi boys shave foam from black balloons until they burst—an allegory of fragile identities shaped by extremism.
A seven-year-old girl learns the vocabulary of war. Flashcards and a child’s voice reveal how violence enters childhood.
A familiar jihadist video shifts when the militant recites the Qur’an, then sings “This Land Is Your Land” before an American flag.