ARTIST STATEMENT
All that is left (2019) is an attempt at locating what home might mean in the aftermath of colonization and warfare, and a challenge to disembodied Western imaginations of the Middle East. By surrounding mass media representations of crisis in the Middle East with inherited art and culture from across the region, this piece frees ‘home’ from Western constructions of suffering and destruction, without downplaying the ongoing impacts of Western neoliberal violence. It is exactly this violence that has stolen home from generations of the deeply rooted. All that is left asks what we might build with what we have left.
Spilling between our hands (2021) visualizes the beginning of a relationship between Iraqi and Indigenous communities through the waterways and oilways that connect them. This piece is based on stories shared and connections built during the ritual of drinking tea. Spilling between our hands visualizes a conversation that not only aims to uncover the falsehood of the colonial division of Iraqi and Indigenous struggles but also to sit with the tension of all our differences.
My family’s displacement onto Indigenous land is rooted in the sanctions and wars on Iraq, and the justification for this violence is al naft—the oil. It is ‘naft’ that attracts capitalist greed and drives colonial violence. This piece asks how we might break cycles of colonial violence by looking at oil as intimately intertwined with water.
If water teaches us about fluidity and generosity, about holding multitudes and exercising soft strength, what does oil teach? Perhaps about relationality, about interconnectedness; we learn from oil that there is no such thing as containing our impact. Perhaps oil teaches us about knowing when to stop taking, about persistence, or about loving the land we live on with all its contaminations and toxicities, not despite them.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Wend Yasen is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Tkaronto, Canada. They are currently receiving a BA in Critical Studies in Equity & Solidarity, Visual Arts, and Near & Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Toronto. Approaching ritual as a methodology, Wend’s work draws from Iraqi ancestral knowledge to re-enact, recreate, or unsettle rituals. This practice is grounded in an intimate relationship with the land and more than human beings. Reflecting on their recent visit to Baghdad, Wend is currently working on an installation that reimagines ancestral weaving rituals to create a ‘portal’ through which viewers can step into a world unburdened by colonialism’s many violences. When they aren’t staring at the floor searching for a missing collage piece, you can find Wend on Instagram.
© Wend Yasen