Title: Baghdad

Description: This work was made during the Iraqi war, where every day we were bombarded by images of the conflict and the emotions overwhelming Baghdad.

Winding through this ancient city, the River Tigris is its lifeblood. I wonder how many conflicts it has seen during its long history. Our modern world owes much of its knowledge and richness to the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia, bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, with Baghdad at its centre.

In spite of this long, rich history of culture and civilization, people do not change. Daily we have seen media images of the city grid set in its desert landscape. Battles have raged in front of us, overlaid by the desert sand and the smoke of burning oil fires. Opulent palaces and ornamental lakes contrast with the grinding poverty of the majority as targets are found.

As I did this work, I had a sense of history being made, and yet again ordinary people were caught in the crossfire.

My hope is that the waters of the Tigris will wash the city and its people clean of pain and conflict. So this piece of work is for the city of Baghdad, its history, its ancient culture, its conflict, its people and their pain, and its future.

Materials: Linen, velvet, tweed, silk, brocade, commercial and hand-dyed cottons, lamè, synthetics. 

Machine and hand pieced and appliquéd, machine and hand embellished and quilted.