Debris consists of eleven fabricated objects resembling hollow concrete bricks—artificial remnants that mimic materials commonly found after the dismantling of temporary display walls in Iraq. Such walls are often erected during religious memorials, particularly those commemorating the death of one of the Imams. They become saturated with printed posters replicating Iranian-style depictions of the Twelve Imams, images that function simultaneously as devotion, propaganda, and visual noise within the urban landscape.
In this work, the posters, reprinted and affixed to the imitation bricks, evoke the overwhelming aesthetic of these memorial environments. They point to the ways public space is temporarily transformed into a surface for mass-produced iconography, where history, belief, and political messaging blur into one another..
Debris is displayed on large glass-boxed pedestals, treated as archaeological artifacts. Accompanying labels specify fictional locations from which the objects were “found,” reinforcing the tension between authenticity and fabrication. The work constructs a pseudo-archive that questions how material culture can be manufactured, manipulated, and framed to produce authority, memory, and historical legitimacy.
Sculptural installation views
Details:
- Eleven fabricated concrete bricks
- Mounted printed paper
- Dim.: var.