"The Cessation” calls attention to the invisibility of Iraqi women who have disappeared or been assassinated during the US-led war in Iraq. The lack of official investigations has resulted in the ongoing targeted assassinations of other prominent women in Iraq today. The silhouetted neon figure recalls an iconic bronze fountain by the late Iraqi artist Mohammed Ghani Hikmat. That sculpture, Kahramana, is situated in a traffic circle in Baghdad. The Cessation reflects my concerns with vulnerable communities, the aftermath of war, and rendering absence into visible form. Words carved into vessels are drawn from lists of Iraqi academics assassinated and include: Mnemocide, Ambushed, She Was, Professora, Disappeared, Organized & Planned, Scrubbed, Shot Dead, and Unknown.

The Cessation – Al-Takwir, The Folding Up
Date: 2019
Medium: neon, aluminum, acrylic, palm fronds, water, copper, terracotta, and sound
Size: dimensions variable
Originally commissioned and produced by Artpace San Antonio

Documentation of installation exhibited on the rooftop of Artpace, San Antonio, Texas, 2019 and Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AR (State of The Art exhibition), 2020.