WE ARE A NATION AT WAR
UNPROVOKED, WE, THE PEOPLE, HAVE INVADED
& OCCUPIED IRAQ!
AS A DEMOCRACY, HOW ARE WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE ACTIONS?

Whatever the rationale and whoever the victor, war kills combatants and civilians alike. Isolated from direct involvement in Iraq, we must rely on the media and it's depiction of the realities of war to inform our experience. Print media reduces America's dead to short bios, and most foreign deaths to mere statistics. Photographs and film clips ignore the majority of the casualties, and "use" only particularly horrific and graphic images of the dead to provoke a visceral response to sell their product, and promote their specific agenda. Somewhere between the cold abstraction of the statistics and the emotionally charged images, is the reality that lots of people are dying, and each of these deaths is horrible and unique.

In the summer of 2003 the NY Times ran a photograph on its front page of a pile of skulls disinterred from a mass grave of people killed by the Hussein regime. I had a very strong response to the photo, especially since I had been using skull imagery for previous two years in my own artwork.  It was a powerful moment, and I was inspired to create mounds of skull eggs – leading to the creation of THE SKULL PROJECT.

I HAVE A VISION OF MOUNDS OF SKULL EGGS…
I INVITE YOU TO JOIN ME IN COMMEMORATING THOSE KILLED IN IRAQ
WILL YOU HELP COMMEMORATE THE DEAD IN IRAQ?

THE SKULL PROJECT is a participatory three week long public art ritual designed to commemorate the dead from Iraq war. Throughout history skulls and skull imagery have been used as "momento mori" -- reminders of death, I felt that my work with this universally recognized symbol would be a fitting basis for this commemoration. I am of Ukrainian decent and intend to use the ideas behind the traditional Ukrainian egg decorating technique known as pysanky for this project.  This tradition uses the inherent life-force in eggs as the power behind the designs seen on the shell.  The symbolism in the design conveys the intention of how the egg – as a power object – is to be used.  In THE SKULL PROJECT, eggs  would become uniquely powerful talismans, as they would join together the life force symbolized by the egg and death as symbolized by the skull.

Traditionally, Ukrainian pysanky are not drained of their inner contents - for that would remove the very life force inherent in this power object (fertile eggs being essential for this cultic understanding of talisman creation).  Over time the albumen dries to dust and the yolk hardens to a small rubbery ball - and will not smell as long as the egg is not cracked or broken during this period.   I wish to retain this practice for this project - for it respects this ancient tradition of a new life possible in each shell.

This is a large project and will require a great deal of public participation.  Each eggshell skull would represent a life lost during this conflict. Reflecting how humans separate each other politically by nation states, the piles of skulls will be separated by nationality while on display. Participants can choose the nation for their completed skull(s) - until the known number of casualties from that country is reached.

SKULL EGGS = RE-PRESENTATION OF INDIVIDUALS LOST & SORTED INTO PILES
TOGETHER WE CAN BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN STATISTICS & REAL LIVES

THE SKULL PROJECT invites the public to participate in the creation of art that speaks to a most pressing international political issue involving our country's resources and affecting our future.  The public is invited to meditate on the outcome of continued warfare by connecting casualty figures with a visual representation. THE SKULL PROJECT enjoins each participant in a communal public ritual of understanding - of our civic interconnections and our responsibilities as citizens of the country that initiated this war.

THE SKULL PROJECT seeks not to engage in a bipartisan political debate regarding the rationale behind this current war, rather it seeks to manifest the human cost in lives lost through the symbolic act of creating and mounding skull eggs. THE SKULL PROJECT, as a public art ritual, raises questions about the public’s moral responsibility for this conflict = where does the buck stop in a “democracy”?  Whatever story you follow behind the “why’s” and “wherefores” of this war, there remains the unfortunate reality that thousands are dead.  By remembering their lost lives through THE SKULL PROJECT, we allow ourselves the opportunity to reflect on this human toll.  THE SKULL PROJECT is meant as a site where the public can acknowledge that these deaths have occurred and to mourn these lost lives.