Works > A Gift to Birobidzhan, 2009

Freya Powell: Untitled
Freya Powell: Untitled
Monoprint, line etching and acrylic
11” X 13 ½”
2008

Distinguished anthropologist and political scientist Mahmood Mamdani states in his book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, “We have just ended a century of violence, one possibly more violent than any other in recorded history: world wars and colonial conquests; civil wars, revolutions and counterrevolutions. Although the magnitude of this violence is staggering, it does not astound us.” Since World War II the United States has bombed 26 countries, these countries represent roughly one third of the world’s population.

In my work I am acknowledging the abstract relationship U.S. citizens have with countries that are affected by U.S. foreign policy. By physically re-tracing the outlines of the countries bombed using the method of blind-contour drawing I allow for abstraction of line to represent the relationship citizens of the U.S. have with the countries it has bombed in the last 50 years.

Freya Powell was born in London, England and received a B.A. from Bard College in New York State. She now lives and works in New York City as a free-lance printmaker. She has participated in shows across the country, and recently received an Artist's Grant from the Vermont Studio Center, which enabled her to spend a month in residence there. In September of 2009, Freya will start the M.F.A. program at Hunter College in New York.