Artist Steve Mumford has returned to Baghdad. You can read his Baghdad Journal and check out some JPEGs of his sketches at artnet.com.

Steve is a very good painter who shows at Postmasters (you can see some of his work by clicking here). His work is generally oriented towards nature or natural imagery, sometimes with hints of nature harming humans or humans harming nature.

Steve and his wife, the painter Inka Essenhigh, are old friends of mine (I met Inka as a freshman in college) and I have enormous respect for Steve’s nerve in going to Iraq at this dangerous time.

In the the current Baghdad Jounal, Steve’s sketches show a Baghdad which seems peaceful and calm. The sketches look like they could have been done in any arab city. It was confusing to me that Steve wouldn’t include any hint of the American occupation in the sketches. In the current batch of sketches there are no signs of the military, war damage, demonstrations or any other sign of the war or occupation.

I understand that Steve may be wanting to show the people of Iraq or to show us something which is an alternative to what the media shows us. But, it seems strange to me that there aren’t any images which reflect the reality of the occupation and war.

Regardless, it’s great to see and read an artist’s POV. I wish Steve good luck and a safe trip. permanent link to this post