Lessons Learned is part of an on-going investigation into the United States’ involvement in the so-called ‘War on Terror’. Correspondence from Donald Rumsfeld’s desk in The White House during the early years of the US-led Afghan invasion are printed on the back of photographs of poppy flowers printed on A3 copy paper. The papers are printed in stacks and are free for viewers to take with them.
As the world’s largest exporter of Opium, Afghanistan’s poppy fields are often an illusive symbol of the war. The artist questions the credibility of the US government’s motives for war, unravelling the deception and illusion used to deter public outcry in an on-going conflict, and the extent to which players concealed the true severity of their irresponsibility within decades of on going wars.
As the world’s largest exporter of Opium, Afghanistan’s poppy fields are often an illusive symbol of the war. The artist questions the credibility of the US government’s motives for war, unravelling the deception and illusion used to deter public outcry in an on-going conflict, and the extent to which players concealed the true severity of their irresponsibility within decades of on going wars.
