I was going through my Amazon wish list, which is full of books I meant to buy, and I stumbled across a beautiful work by Steve Mumford that I never got around to ordering. Baghdad Journal: An artist in occupied Iraq turns the concept of war photographer on its ear. Mumford acted as a war artist, and kept a journal accompanied by his sketches and paintings during the course of four trips to Iraq between 2003-2004.

Mumford was embedded with US troops, and they where the subject of many paintings and drawings. But he also created a record of Iraqis in their daily life around Iraq, including many Iraqi artists. He sent digital versions of his work along with journal entries to artnet via satellite.

You can read Steve Mumford’s biography at Drawn and Quartered.com. You can also hear a 1995 interview with him at NPR.

Also posted on my Newsvine column.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Steve Mumford”

  1. Ted Voller on June 4th, 2008 3:23 pm

    “No one will say what needs to be said: that “Baghdad Journal” is repugnant and that any artist who identifies himself with the Iraq war and occupation deserves to be and will be held in contempt, as an apologist for war crimes.”

    From Clare Hurley, “The New York art world’s apology for the Iraq war” World Socialist Web Site, 13 June 2005.

  2. Recent Links Tagged With "stevemumford" - JabberTags on September 27th, 2008 10:49 am

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