Lyrics is a sculptural extension of Three Love Songs, transforming politically charged lyrics from 1990s Iraqi propaganda songs into three-dimensional copper forms. Each sculpture isolates fragments of the original text, phrases once crafted to glorify authority, and renders them as solid, enduring objects.
By materializing these words in copper, the work exposes the weight and permanence of language used for ideological influence. Detached from melody and performance, the lyrics become stark artifacts of a system that shaped emotion, loyalty, and public expression. Without music to soften them, their tension becomes more visible, revealing the collision between affection and authoritarian messaging, intimacy and manipulation.
Lyrics invites viewers to consider how regimes appropriate the language of love, and how propaganda embeds itself not only in public discourse but also in private emotional registers. In sculptural form, these once-sung lines become relics of a cultural strategy that blurred desire, power, and control.
Sculptures with translation
Details:
- Sculptural wall installation
- Copper sculptures
- Dim.: var.
- (H 15–25 cm × L 120–170 cm)