The work was open for viewing only during the Summer Screenings 2024.
MANUFACTURED DEMOCRACY by Huner Emin Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq), USA (2024)
Manufactured Democracy revolves around crimes against humanity and the aftermath of Iraq War atrocities. Huner collected the names of Iraqi individuals who lost their lives in the civil wars and wrote them in the shape of fingerprints to evoke a crime scene. Fingerprints are references to Iraqi elections where voters dip their index finger in purple Ink after voting: a process which was known as Purple Fingers Elections.
The ‘Purple Fingers’ are a metaphorical spotlight, a testimony, and the evidence of a crime, where the perpetrator left behind fingerprints. It is manufactured delinquency against humanity, and innocent Iraqis, committed by the superb Uncle Sam. It is proof of human greed and inanely cruel nature. The massive fingerprints consist of the microscopic names of civilians who lost their lives since 2003 because of the international war in Iraq. The lines represent insignificant mass and the loopholes of remorselessness of the politicians. The names are collected by a non-profit organization called Iraqi Body Count. The names in the IBC organization list are in the English alphabet, and Huner transferred them back to Arabic as a form of repatriation. Manufactured Democracy is an example of a human’s savage attitude that has never learned from history lessons and only became more pronounced as knowledge and science advances. It is an expression of frustration and pain when the collective human conscience has been murdered by a handful of selfish malevolent cancer cells.
Bio:
Huner Emin is a stateless multimedia Kurdish artist. He grew up in south Kurdistan/northern Iraq and is now based in Bloomington, Indiana. After leaving Iraq in 2013, Huner has never returned due to political and social issues. His work since has continued to comment on his lived experiences and broader concerns in the Middle East, including honor killing traditions in the art project Blood Washing in 2017; the Baath regime’s 1987-1989 genocide campaign against Kurdish communities called 180,000 Seconds made in 2016; and crimes against humanities and aftermath of Iraq War atrocities in his art project Manufactured Democracy 2021-2024.
Performing/editing/ directing – Huner Emin
Camera and filming – Ayesha Cheema
Language Editing – Micheal Semyan
Names resources: Iraqi Body Count (IBC) non-profit
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