the damage is done...

As part of my residency at the Bag Factory Arash Hanaie a photographer from Iran and I put together an exhibition based on ideas around the crisis of war and its universal effect. My piece entitled “The damage is done” consisted of four life size portrait busts and a television screen. The portrait busts made from Crysta Cal resembled worn out marble. They were self portraits in different attire, one was shirtless and the other dressed in a suit. The third bust wore a military uniform while the last was based on a Roman emperor. Each bust was differently treated and partly left unfinished to create a very damaged and distressed surface. They were dramatically lit from the top, which cast dark shadows over their faces. This emphasized and accentuated their lost status. The tradition of portrait busts comes a long way and was usually used to symbolize power and immortalize bravery. These portraits looked all but brave and proud and had a kind of sadness and loss about them. They wore their robes like mill stones around their necks, the weight of centuries of lust for power, destruction and wealth clearly burdening their shoulders. The television screen looped a video. On the shirtless bust was projected and again videoed a screen from a video arcades war plane simulator. Children merrily are shooting away at the enemy, guns blazing as the game stops to show their score after the words “Game Over”.