Body Count

2008-2010

An installation composed of strips of paper bearing the names of Iraqi civilians killed in the Iraq War following the U.S. invasion in 2003. The names, sourced from the Iraq Body Count project, document civilian deaths caused by violence from the start of the war until July 22, 2010. During this period, the documented civilian death toll ranged from 97,461 to 106,348. The available document represents 4% of these recorded deaths, drawn from single-source reports. Gaps in reporting and recording suggest that even the highest documented totals may exclude many civilian deaths caused by violence.

The strips in the installation—each including, where available, the name, gender, age, and occupation of the deceased—cover the floor of the project space. Text on the walls near the entrance invites viewers to step into the gallery and, by doing so, walk across the strips of paper. The installation reflects the tension between the anonymity of the Iraqi civilians killed in the war and the individuality of their recorded identities, compelling viewers to confront their own positionality. It functions simultaneously as both a memorial and an anti-memorial.

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