The ISIS Paintings exhibit created by British artist Piers Secunda is currently on display in the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) Art Gallery. The sculpture-like paintings were created using casts of ISIS bullet holes and power tool damage from destroyed historical sites in Iraq.
The exhibit shows the damage to images caused by competing ideas and war. The practice of iconoclasm goes back centuries with ISIS’s participation being the latest example.
Secunda’s recreation of these actions involves taking molds from historical friezes and overlaying those with real bullet holes. The bullet holes were molds taken from real bullet-ridden buildings ISIS destroyed in Iraq. The final artwork is made from mixing of industrial floor paint and a stiffening agent, thus they are called “paintings.”
This performance of recreating iconoclasm mirror real-life destruction of archaeological sites and looting members of the Islamic extremist group ISIS.
Through the recreation of the art pieces, viewers are able to see the story of what was, while the art covered in bullet holes tells the story of what is happening now. A story that the people who resided in the places where the past and present are being destroyed currently.
During the exhibit’s opening event at UHCL, British artist Pier Secunda spoke about the difficulties of the process and why he carried on with a project that put him in life-threatening situations.
“It was hard to get help because of the dangers,” Secunda said. “Those that helped me did it because they wanted their story told.”
He knew the risks and so did many others. This is why making it to where the pieces of destroyed art existed was a journey on its own.
Secunda said it was hard to get anyone to help him get into Iraq. After a series of many emails, requesting assistance, he received his first reply. This reply was from a man who would not only help Secunda get into Iraq to begin his journey but would also motivate him to carry on when situations worsened and the artist began to question if he should continue. The man who agreed to help Secunda was Sardar Ahmad Khan.
Khan died before the art was completed, along with his wife and young children, as a result of the violence. In life, Khan constantly reminded Secunda that he was doing something meaningful and important.
Secunda said that one thing that kept him motivated was the reminder of his friend and how Khan wanted these molds to make it to the western world. Khan wanted this story to be told. Secunda has not forgotten what Khan asked of him to this day.
“Keep doing what you are doing and don’t stop,” Khan told Secunda. “No one is going to come here to see this, and it is great that it will now make it out into the rest of the world.”
Secunda described his journey in detail to help explain the danger and how real the places he went to were. He was emotional as he remembered certain things while addressing the audience.
Through the memories Secunda shared with the audience, attendees were able to receive a deeper insight into the journey that leads to the exhibit.
“It made me feel sad and helped to remind me of how real this is,” said Tina Cruz, education major. “I feel that we are desensitized to this because we aren’t living it.”
Secunda said he hoped the audience would have some kind of emotional response to the art.
“I want an emotional response to this because I feel that people become desensitized to this,” Secunda said. “I want people to know this is real. I want them to understand the severity of the damage and the importance of not doing it.”
Secunda also has other projects in the works. One of those projects consists of work similar to that of this exhibit but concerning environmental damage. It has been in the works since 2009. He hopes to release that series of art in the upcoming years.
The ISIS Paintings art exhibit is now open and free to the public. The art is located in the UHCL Art Gallery on the first level of the Bayou Building and can be viewed through Dec. 18.