Last week, a Libyan court sentenced Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of deposed leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, to death over war crimes linked to the 2011 revolution. In terms of atrocious actions across the Middle East, he‘s not alone.
A suite of startling images flying ‘round social media are attention-grabbing, and stomach-turning. Created by Kurdish artist Ahmad Nabaz, they make bold artistic commentary in a region where political opinions are not freely broadcast.
Nabaz riffs off formal portraiture of world leaders, digitally erasing backdrops of pricey paintings, fine furniture, and state flags and replacing them with stark images of atrocities committed under their watch. He told Al Bawaba that his choice of leaders isn’t personal.
“During the Arab Spring thousands of people died and mass migration occurred. My project is specifically about leaders who caused innocent people to die. I feature rulers with the most death on their hands. I tried to translate their bellicosity into pictures that show their crimes, tell who they really are, and reveal their inhumane thinking,” said Nabaz.
The 29-year-old university art teacher began to post his digital collages on Facebook last year, attracting attention from websites locally and abroad. Nabaz told us he has total freedom in his work, but he has experienced some pressure from the social network to delete some of the more graphic pieces.
The series is called “The Destroyers,” and Nabaz will be expanding it beyond the Middle East. There is no end to human atrocity underpinned by politics.
See more of his work on his Facebook page and weigh in on the online debate: does this art incite dialogue and advance understanding, or is it exploitative entertainment?
