Study for a Monument

In these bronze casts of plants native to the Tigris and Euphrates river systems of Mesopotamia (an ancient region roughly coincident with contemporary Iraq), Abbas Akhavan explores the environmental devastation resulting from war. Akhavan has mined the visual and conceptual languages of the monument to produce forms that appear fragmented and out of proportion; some are also charred and oxidized from exposure to air and light. This distortion and degradation suggests that the plants have lost their previous symbolic significance, undergoing a change in status from regal to humble. The artist’s decision to place the casts on the floor atop white sheets introduces references to the display of smuggled artifacts and the presentation of human bodies ravaged by disaster in makeshift funeral displays.