Exhibition TBT: —The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist (Room G)
Cultural erasure has been on my mind for a minute. The forced removal of objects of cultural value has a historical legacy. Some objects have been removed and destroyed forever. While other objects have been removed and relocated to different countries. The removal of cultural objects still continues to this day. And the people whose culture has been removed have to address this absence. How do they do this?
Artist Michael Rakowitz explores themes of cultural erasure and collective memory, especially objects that have been displaced or no longer exist. I was lucky enough to catch this exhibition at Malmö Konsthall in September 2019, which was titled: The Invisible Memory Should Not Exist (Room G).
A bit of background — Rakowitz is an American artist, chef and lecturer of Iraqi Jewish descent, who lives and works in Chicago. This exhibition — The Invisible Memory Should Not Exist — is part of a wider series which addresses contemporary destruction and looting of cultural objects. Over 15,000 thousands of objects have been looted from the National Museum of Iraq since 10 April 2003, which was exacerbated by the US-led invasion of Iraq. Rakowitz re-creates and reconstructs these missing objects — which includes statues and votives — using ‘packaging of Middle Eastern foodstuffs and local Arabic newspapers’ (Michael Rakowitz). In this way, Rakowitz is drawing attention to the fact that there are many objects still missing.
Back to the exhibition….
Unfortunately, pictures weren’t allowed to be taken within the exhibition. But in a way this made me feel more present within the light and airy space of the gallery. Rakowitz engaged with several art forms, drawing from food to history, as entry points to the broader discussion on cultural erasure.
Food
The history dates
I love dates (the dried fruit). So I was immediately intrigued when I noticed the timeline on the wall titled Ancient History of Dates — a clever play on words. Through the lens of this fruit, Rakowitz was able to tell parts of Iraq’s history. It was interesting to discover how Iraq became a world leader in the production of dates by the 1970s. And how this all changed because of conflict. For instance, after the Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988) the land where date trees previously grew was described as ‘palm tree desert’ (Agence France-Presse, 2011).
After the first Gulf War (1990–1991), date trees and the soil suffered from the spray of insecticides from the US-led invasion force. The trees that remained, suffered from Fusarium, a fungi, a consequence of the use of uranium shells used by Allied bombers. This timeline really made me stop and think about connections between events and their impact. Historical events such as the Gulf Wars are not just isolated incidents. The impact is not always so obvious. And the destruction of land can not only lead to humanitarian crises. the loss of culture if the means to produce certain foods is obstructed by unresolved legacies of conflict and investment.
Enemy Kitchen (2003 —present)
There was a section in the gallery which described the Enemy Kitchen project. In collaboration with his mother, Rakowitz collated Iraqi recipes and led several cooking workshops. In 2012 Enemy Kitchen became a food truck in Chicago — the first Iraqi restaurant — with ‘Iraqi refugees as the head chefs and U.S veterans of the Iraq war as sous chefs and servers, an irony that the artist appreciated’ (Rakowitz, 2019).
Use of artforms — reconstructing what no longer exists
Towards the back of the gallery space, Rakowitz constructed a ‘surrogate architecture named after the archaeological outlining of Nimrud’ (once the capital of the ancient Assyrian state). In this space, there were 19 panels reconstructed by Rakowitz to emphasise the impressive nature of this historic archaeological site. Rakowitz also made use of materials such as colourful food wrappers and Arabic newspapers as part of this structure — combining what once was with materials of today.
Stories — Radio Silence (2018)
Near the front of the gallery, there were several white benches laid out with headphones placed on top . I accepted this open invitation to listen. The programme was on a loop, so I had to wait a while to catch the whole essence of the Radio Silence project. Rakowitz used snippets of interviews and poetry readings to explore the ‘dreams and memories from Iraq, America and in-between into a soundscape of the contemporary refugee experience, the Iraqi diaspora and the culture of an Iraq that, due to the war and political unrest, no longer exists’ (Mural Arts Philadephia). This project was inspired by Iraqi broadcaster Bahjat Abdulwahed who was a refugee who lived in Philadephia until he died in 2016. Abdulwahed and his wife, Hayfaa Ibrahem Abdulqader, feature within this series. These stories, especially from the perspectives of the Iraqi diaspora, provides an insightful introduction to how culture in Iraq is perceived. And where the thoughts of those part of the Iraqi diaspora fit within these conversations. In a way, this makes me think about how collaborations between people based in home countries and those part of a diaspora approach discussions on culture erasure. Does critiques of how situations in home countries are panning out cause defensive attitudes? Are people part of the diaspora seen as outsiders? Or are similarities between people in home countries and the diaspora celebrated and form the foundation for future conversations?
My key takeaways
- This was the first time I had learnt about Iraqi culture from a Jewish perspective in a public space. Which is definitely an area I want to learn more about.
- I went to this exhibition with a good friend of mine who is of Persian descent. And the content of this exhibition sparked so many conversations about her culture, whilst we were in space dedicated to bringing aspects of Iraqi culture to the forefront of our conscious.
- Telling histories through the lens of food makes history more relatable. Especially when this history clarifies the links between the impact of certain events on culture, in the past and now.
