Mona Chalabi Instagram – Now on view at Cooper Hewitt, an installation all about domicide by me and @situ_nyc. You can hear us give a talk about this work on November 19 at Cooper Union (it’s open to the public and tickets are free).
This installation recreates three homes that have been destroyed by US-made weapons in Iraq, Syria and Palestine. You can see it until August 2025 as part of Making Home, The Smithsonian Design Triennial.
It’s been a year since we started this project. I still can’t believe we managed to put it out in the world but I have some theories.
1 incredible curators. This work exists because of the steadfast commitment, courage and creativity of Christina De León as well as Alexandra Cunningham Cameron & Michelle Joan Wilkinson who backed this work from the start.
2 trusting sources. The three families I interviewed showed enormous faith that we would respect and honor their memories. We really felt the weight of that responsibility.
3 great collaborators. Creating sculptures on this scale was totally new to me so I had to rely on the expertise of a whole team. Martina Duque Gonzalez knew materials and had the patience and ingenuity to find and build exactly what we needed, Gauri Bahuguna expertly pulled together the research and helped reconstruct the homes while Candice Strongwater offered creative solutions for every step along the way. The exteriors were built by Didi Rapp and the other fabricators at SITU and we had so much extra help along the way (Brad Samuels, Ramón Bieri, Evan Grothjan and Sam Rabiyah). The wonderful Ben Aranda helped us connect. He’s also one of the other artists in the exhibition – the entire triennial is *incredible* so if you don’t come for our work, please go to see theirs!
Photos by @kholoodeid | Posted on 13/Nov/2024 23:03:26
