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Another man, held in a metal coffin for 15 days, taken out once or twice a day, so weak his captors had to drag him to the toilet.
Artist Daniel Heyman has heard it all and more while observing more than 25 interviews with Iraqis.
Some of them were held at Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison while it was run by American military, or held elsewhere. Others are the survivors of victims of the September 2007 massacre in Baghdad, when some employees of Blackwater, a private American security contractor, killed 17 Iraqi civilians, most without cause, an FBI investigation concluded.
Despite horrific stories of arrest, detainment and interrogation, none of these Iraqis was charged or convicted of a crime.
During four trips to Jordan and Turkey, Heyman sat and listened to the Iraqis, drawing their faces as they told their stories, recording their words in a block print that spills from his images.
Heyman's work is part of ÒArtists and War,Ó an exhibit featuring six participating artists that is opening today at North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks. It runs through March 30.
Beyond the images
He wanted his illustrations to take viewers beyond the images of naked, hooded prisoners that appeared in the world's media after accounts about Abu Ghraib came to public attention in 2004.
ÒYou look at the picture of the person in the hood, and you hate torture, but you don't think of that person,Ó Heyman said. ÒIt's hard to think that this person is someone who may have been taken from his family in the middle of the night. The story of who they are is not there.Ó
Heyman, 44, lives in Philadelphia and teaches printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design and Swarthmore (Pa.) College. His art often has reflected social issues, he said.
ÒUpset in generalÓ about the war in Iraq since it began, Heyman said he'd been thinking about what happened at Abu Ghraib since he first heard of the abuse and torture there and began to incorporate those images in his art.
Then, he met Philadelphia attorney Susan Burke, the lead attorney in a civil action filed on behalf of more than 200 former Iraqi prisoners who reached her through international human rights groups. The suit alleges her clients were tortured at the hands of CACI, an American contractor working in Iraq.
The stories
Heyman's first trip to the Middle East was in March 2006, his most recent in December; he plans another in April. It's too dangerous to go to Iraq. Instead, he, the attorney and others met first with the Iraqis in Jordan. Subsequent meetings have been in Istanbul.
The interviews usually take place in a hotel room, with a lawyer present, someone who takes notes, a translator and/or one of the two men associated with the law firm who live in Baghdad.
ÒI spread out my work on the coffee table, and I try to disappear,Ó Heyman said. ÒSome of the stories are so sad and so horrible to listen to.Ó
One man told of how his extended family was having a celebration at his house when the children crossed the street to get sodas and sweets. A bomb exploded, killing his sons, 9 and 11. One son was decapitated. Americans came and arrested all the men in the family, thinking one of them had set off the bomb, the father said. He told of being taken away, a bag placed over his head, then he was stripped and beaten.
Another man recalled being kept in a metal coffin, his hands cuffed behind him, and taken out once or twice a day to be dragged to a bathroom because he was too weak and cramped to move. His captors put his head in a metal bell and banged on it. As far as he knew, the man said, they were American soldiers.
Very few of the people were ever given a reason for their arrest.
One man was a taxi driver whose captors asked about the people he had transported. Another man, a dentist who spoke English, was arrested and tortured, then received an apology from a U.S. military judge because those who arrested him had gone to the wrong house. Still, the dentist said, he was re-arrested later because he had an arrest record.
Restore idea of America
ÒIt's a very weird thing to say,Ó Heyman said, Òbut when you listen to someone who's had a traumatic and terrible experience and you just allow them to tell you, it's a very positive thing to be that ear for that person.
ÒMany, many times these Iraqis have said, ÔThese people in these rooms, the lawyers and translators, the writers, we have restored their idea of what America is about.' We tell them America is not just prison guards and not just soldiers. We have a very big and diverse country with lots of different people and positions, and that is very positive for them.Ó
Printmaking has been a good way to capture the images because he can work quickly, and he can make multiples of the same image. The process he uses is called dry point, which involves scratching into a copper plate with a stylus. The actual prints are made when he returns to the U.S.
At Abu Ghraib, some American military police members committed the acts. People working for other U.S. government agencies possibly were involved.
Still, Heyman said he's gotten some hate mail about his work. Sometimes people say to him: Saddam Hussein was torturing people, too. Why don't you make art about the good things Americans are doing in Iraq?
ÒI'm very happy for anyone to do whatever work that they want,Ó he said. ÒThe Democrats voted for this war as much as the Republicans did. I just think war is wrong and violence is an absolute wrong. I don't think abuse should get a green light. For me, it is morally unacceptable that Americans torture.Ó
Years ago, Heyman said, he lived in France, where he interviewed survivors of World War II.
ÒIt always kind of struck me that those stories were so fresh to them, even when they were 40 years old,Ó he said. ÒSo, that damage that happens in a war, it's not just a news story. It's somebody's entire future life.
ÒI don't think Abu Ghraib is over. It certainly isn't over for the people who were there.Ó
Reach Tobin at (701) 780-1134; (800) 477-6572, ext. 134; or ptobin@gfherald.com. See her blog at www.areavoices.com. |
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