Thursday, March 16, 2006

Daniel Heyman in Amman, Jordan

Via Roberta and Libby, news from Philadelphia artist, Daniel Heyman, who is currently working as a kind of combat artist, or maybe court artist would be more accurate. He's in Amman, Jordan with a human rights group, interviewing the Iraqi torture victims from Abu Graib (including the man who was photographed standing on a box with a hood over his head, and attached to electrical wires.) While the lawyers ask questions, Daniel draws and paints the former prisoners and translators.

Part of time, he is scribing directly on copper plates, for future printing. Here's an excerpt from his online journal, describing his process:

"I think I should describe my working method so that what you read has a context. I sit in this hotel room and draw the face of an Iraqi who is telling the most humiliating and degrading story of his life. I try to disappear. I draw, first a small sketch on a scrap of paper, and then a copper plate using a stylus. This plate will be the matrix for a print.

As I listen and draw, I am also inscribing the words I hear into the copper, backwards. I have to write very quickly, so that I do not loose the thread of the story. I need to evaluate what I hear – is this the part I will transcribe, is it a story that condenses the whole experience, or through it will a viewer understand what this is about? So it is a game of waiting and listening. I also have to judge how long the interview will go on to leave enough space for an upcoming story. If there is no room on the plate, I type the story into the computer. I have done very little editing, hopefully it will retain the freshness of the interview."