Locusts In Babylon

Based on a satellite view of the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that includes Baghdad, this print references the area called the Fertile crescent, the biblical land of Babylonia.

This is the place where the ancient Sumerians developed the earliest known form of writing, cuneiform. This is where Hammurabi wrote the earliest known laws in the world, laws which underpin our own legal system. And this is the place where the U.S. military has unleashed a seemingly unstoppable chaos that threatens to engulf the whole region.

This print took two months from inception to completion. Twenty sheets of paper, each receiving 15 impressions = 300 times I put ink and damp paper on a block and rubbed it with my baren. Through each repetition, like a 300-bead rosary, my thoughts went to the people of Iraq, so many of whom are displaced and living in fear and chaos because of the policies of my government. I offer this print as one small attempt to do/say something about this sad and unnnecessary situation.