Page 130 - ArtUnlimited

LiZ AShBURN

Lives and works in Sydney, NSw, Australia
www.lizashburn.com

IRAq SUITE
Iraq Suite creates a dramatic contrast between the violence and ruin
of the Iraq war and the ornate and decorative Islamic borders of most Iraq Suite continues this artist’s involvement with the theme of art in
of the images. Liz Ashburn’s particular concern is with the devastation relation to war and other failures of civilisation and benevolent human
caused by war and one of her inspirations has been goya’s Disasters of feeling. Her previous work has included comment on famine in Africa, the
war. Created between 1810 and 1820 goya’s Disasters of war records conflict between the Israelis and the Arabs, and the war in Sarajevo. The
the horror of the French Napoleonic war against Spain. This war was work about Sarajevo was a response to the fact that the Serbs destroyed
marked by the ferocity of the French campaign of mutilation and death the library in Sarajevo in order to eradicate the cultural heritage of their
against the Spanish people and a Spanish guerrilla response to the enemies. In Iraq she argues that the allies protected the oil lines (which
French invasion. Iraq Suite and The Oil Crusade provide a view of war was an impossible task) while allowing the museum to be looted. Iraq
as a failure of civilisation and a cruel and ruinous disaster for humanity. was originally the site of the garden of Eden and their cultural artefacts
They form a lament that such horrors still exist. are of value to the whole world.

 NIghT sCENE, 2007 wATERCOLOUR AND gOUACHE 7X7IN. /18X18 CM.
U.s. sOLdIEr rEMAINs ON ALErT ON A NIGHT PATrOL IN THE HEArT OF AL-AdHAMIYA, BAGHdAd.
 DAy sCENE, 2007 wATERCOLOUR AND gOUACHE 7X7IN. /18X18 CM. IN JAIL, 2007 wATERCOLOUR AND gOUACHE 7,5X7,5IN. /9X19 CM.
PrEssUrE-sENsITIVE BLAsT MINEs “BUTTErFLIEs” drOPPEd BY HELICOPTEr. WEArY U.s. A HOOdEd ANd WIrEd PrIsONEr IN THE ABU GHrAIB PrIsON BELIEVEd TO BE sATAr JABAr, WHO
sOLdIEr ON dAY PATrOL PAUsEs FOr rEsT INsIdE AN IrAqI LIVING rOOM dUrING AN OCTOBEr rEPOrTEdLY WAs TOLd HE WOULd BE ELECTrOCUTEd IF HE FELL OFF THE BOX. 
rAId IN BAGHdAd, PHOTOGrAPH TIME MAGAZINE. DETAIL of IRAQ sUITE: fAMILy fLEEINg. CENTRAL IMAgE 6X6 IN. /15X15 CM. 

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