Memorial to the Iraqi Dead

Commemorating the Iraqis killed in the Gulf War of 1991, the project was to make 150,000 different hand-painted posters for each of the dead anonymously posted around New York City. A name for each Iraqi was manually printed and then blacked out. Dates of birth and death (all 1991) were printed below the names and an “edition number” of x/150,000 was printed at bottom right of each poster.

Of the 100s pasted on walls around New York City most were eventually covered over or destroyed. From an installation in October 1992, posters were sold for $1 each on the condition that the purchaser pasted it on the city walls themselves.

All street photos are by Paola Morsiani, 1991