abdulraheem
I am a Canadian artist and am here in Baghdad at the invitation
of the Minister of Culture. I proposed the idea of casting my
bronze sculpture pieces in Iraq and sending them to British
Columbia, Canada where they will be installed as the centre piece
in my “Peace Sanctuary”.
I came up with my idea of the sanctuary because I realized that
many years ago the world was on edge of madness. Iraq was my
focus. I was horrified that my leaders would applaud a range of
actions that would condemn thousands of children to painful
death. It was not the world that I wanted for my children. In 1999,
I visited Iraq to see first hand what I had only read about. I was
heart broken, I returned from Iraq to Canada vowing that I would
not remain silent. I used my art as what to express my feelings.
But my work was too graphic and not subtle enough to allow
people to open their hearts and hear the message I was trying to
convey. I then came up with the idea of doing large images in
fields using hay. These clearly helped people lower their
defenses, and I was able to get them to listen to the story of the
children and the people of Iraq. But I wanted something more
permanent. A sculpture that would last. I decided to create
something by carving into the landscape with a massive
bulldozer. I created several rings of large mounds by moving
thousands of tons of gravel on the side of a mountain. (In British
Columbia). I then decided that I wanted a very large 24 foot
bronze sculpture piece in the centre of these large gravel rings or
mounds. (One thousand feet across is the size of the last, outside
ring). The sculpture will represent “the family”. They look very
much like large rocks. Not really detail. They are abstract in
nature. I want the viewer to not be sure if they are rocks or made
by a human. There are three pieces. One each for the mother and
father, a small nine foot piece that would represent the child. The
entrance way to the rings has two large boulders and there is also
a ten ton boulder on top of a small hill overlooking the site. The
bronze sculpture will weigh a total of ten to twelve tons. We will
be melting American bomb shards into bronze. I liked this idea
very much. I am not a political artist. Politics does not interest me.
What I do want is for people to understand that when we drop
bombs on families on the other side of the world, we are
destroying and brutalizing ourselves. My peace sanctuary is
located near a small town called Hudson’s hope. It is wilderness.
Beautiful scenery surrounds you. The skies are huge. Filled with
clouds, stars northern lights. The landscape is as important as the
sculpture. It encourages musicians to bring their students and
instruments. My daughter sat and played her cello. I want people
to make it a journey. The Iraqi government has agreed to cast this
for me. It is a huge undertaking. I will have to pay for the shipping
of the sculpture back to Canada. We expect to have it completed
next summer in Canada. Thank you. Deryk Houston, Room 834,
Daily Trust, Thursday, November 7, 2002
