In an attempt to make the world realize what war really means (if, by any chance, anybody missed the horrifying images from the two countries we've been bombarded with for years), artist Jeremy Deller brought to the Imperial War Museum in London a terrible piece of Iraq: the wreckage of a car.
Rusted and contorted, the cold pile of metal was a car of indistinguishable origins, parked in the Al-Mutanabbi street book market in Baghdad.
On March 5, 2007, a bomb went off in that market, killing 38 people and tearing one of the iconic Baghdad cultural areas to shreds.
The car is the same which was featured by Deller in his previous “It Is What It Is” project in the US. The artist says he wants to remind people through the car that, in the beginning of the 20th century, civilian casualties in case of war accounted for 10 percent of all dead and wounded. Now, civilians account for nearly 90 percent of all dead and injured in a conflict.
“It’s unusual to see anything from the conflict in Iraq 'in life’'so I was interested in being able to show this car to the public, initially in the US and now the UK,” Deller explained.
“I’m very happy that the Imperial War Museum has taken this object into its Collections and is putting it on such prominent display – I couldn’t think of a better home for it in this country.”
The car will be on display at the Imperial War Museum throughout September and will be adorned with related activities.
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