Fatma Bucak Sum of the misdeeds and consents and cowardly acts

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Sum of the misdeeds and consents and cowardly acts is an installation of ten bronze birds that inhabit Iraq, cast into weights. All the represented birds are designated as vulnerable, endangered, or critically-endangered on The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species (which accounts for the health of the world’s biodiversity and is an essential resource for conservationists). Some of the birds in the installation are dependent on Iraq’s marshlands, and the drainage of their areas over decades for political aims has compromised their habitats. All the birds are cast in resting poses and in different sizes and weights; the largest/heaviest is the most critically endangered, and the smallest/lightest is the least endangered or vulnerable. From largest to smallest, the bird species are: the Slander billed Curlew, Sociable Lapwing, Basra Reed Warbler, Steppe Eagle, White-headed Duck, Saker Falcon, Macqueen’s Bustard, Greater Spotted Eagle, Marbled Duck, and the Common Pochard. The birds—installed on a Middle Eastern folk textile—are conceptually based on a Mesopotamian weight shaped like a bird that was part of the collection of the National Museum of Iraq until it was looted during the war two decades ago—to date, it is unrecovered. Connecting endangered birds to ancient weights implies value; humankind used weights for trade to determine the worth of commodities. In this sense, Sum of the misdeeds and consents and cowardly acts asks, what the value of non-human life in conflicted territories is.

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MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna

proprietà Ente Locale - Premio Italian Council 2020 (IX edizione)

Sculpture