Foreign Body

Foreign Body is an intervention inspired by the many iconic images broadcast and reprinted throughout the world during the occupation of Iraqi palaces and museums in the Spring of 2003. The incongruity of dishevelled and informal soldiers relaxing in opulent surroundings appears in stark contrast to the managed media campaign. The images display a level of triumphalism that contradicts the rhetoric of Operation Iraqi Freedom: the military's apparent ownership of these sites indicating a momentary degeneration of coalition attempts to persuade the world that a war could be an altruistic exercise rather than a matter of pride and power. Within the sixteenth century room, the foreign element of a seated figure is introduced. The soldier, dwarfed by a vaulted, frescoed ceiling and clothed in US issue fatigues, was constructed of resin and fibreglass. A small eccentric cam housed within the chest works to produce a subtle effect of breathing. Positioned near the windows at the rear of the room the figure is viewed in partial silhouette.