Disco Mosul

Inscriptions

Signed and dated, in graphite, lower right margin: D[illegible] 2006; numbered, in graphite, lower left margin: 19/30; titled and inscribed, upper left to lower right: DISCO MOSUL [arrow with point at right] A ROOM WHERE THE SOLDIERS WOULD PUT REL- / IGIOUS MEN NAKED, PUT BAGS ON THEIR HEADS AND MAKE THEM / DANCE FOR 12 HOURS A FEMALE SOLDIER WOULD HIT THEM / IF THEY STOPPED OR LOOKED DOWN WHEN THEY FELL EXHAUS- / TED, THEY WOULD BE BEATEN, THEN WOULD BE TAKEN TO THE IN- / FIRMARY AN TELL AIMAD THAT HE SHOULD GOD [sic] HE WAS NOT AT THE / DISCO. SOMETIMES THEY WERE MADE TO SLEEP ON / EACH OTHER / IN MOSUL THEY WOULD UNDO THE DRESSING ON / MY LEG AND POUR COLD WATER ON IT AND It WAS / MUCH MORE PAINFUL WHEN HE GOT TO A.G. THE SOLD / SOLDIERS [sic] KEPT PRESSING HIS LEG AND PUT WATER ON IT / THEY WOULD UNDRESS HIM PUT HIM IN A METAL CHAIR AND / POUR WATER ON HIS WOUNDS ONCE HE WAS SCR- / EAMING IN PAIN AND ASKED FOR A VALIU [sic] AND A BLACK [female symbol] NURSE / JESSKA [sic] SHOVED A PILL IN HIS MOUTH AND SHOVED A FULL / BOTTLE OF H20 IN HIS MOUTH AND POURED AND HE THOU / GHT HE WAS DROWNIG. WHEN HE WAS TAKEN FROM THE / HOSPITAL THEY LEFT HIM OUTSIDE AT THE AIR- / PORT IN THE SUN 3 HOURS THE / WATER MADE THE WOUND / WORSE It GOT MORE IN- / FECTED THEY PUT HIM ON / A METAL CHAIR EVERY DAY TO / MAKE HIS PAIN WORSE FOR / 12 DAYS HE WAS LEFT IN / THE SUN AND THEY WOULD / OPEN HIS DRESSIN [sic] / AND PUT H20 / ON HIS LEG; inscribed, in block, lower right to center: IN IBNSINA THEY AGAIN POURED / H20 ON HIS WOUND / A TRANSLATOR TOLD HIM THAT THEY / WERE GIVING HIM H20 tO MAKE HIS LEG / WORSE SO THEY COULD / CUT It OFF A DR. TOLD / HIM THEY WERE GOING / TO TAKE HIS LEG / AND THEY TOOK / HIM TO THE / OPERATION / ROOM AND / HE WOKE / UP 3 DAYS / LATER W\O A / LEG / THE NURSE / DIDNT [sic] KNOW / HOW TO TAKE OUT STITCHE[backwards S] / AND JUST CUT THEM / AND LEFT THE STRING / INSIDE AND It BE- / CAME I[backwards N]FECTED / HIS ACCUSSATION / PAPER JUST SAID / HELD FOR TREAT- / MENT HE WAS / HELD FOR 8 MONTHS / THIS WAS [backwards 2]004 [inscription oriented horizontally, with left at center of page]; inscribed, in block, lower right: NOW HE / HAS DIABETES / FROM THIS [inscription oriented horizontally, with left at lower center of page] Embossed, lower right corner: [insignia: C [symbol] [three horizontal lines stacked vertically], with arc above and below] Watermark, lower right: BFK RIVES

Label

Daniel Heyman’s portraits of prisoners typically focus on the mental scars of torture. However, Disco Mosul is as much about the physical scars as the mental ones. Heyman drew directly onto the printing plate while lawyers interviewed the man about his experiences at Abu Ghraib, a US-run military prison where American soldiers tortured detainees during the Iraq war. Heyman also etched an inscription that details the man’s recollection of his own torture. The sitter recounts being injured in a bomb blast and taken to Abu Ghraib. He says that while there, US soldiers purposefully infected his injuries and denied him treatment. Eventually, doctors had to amputate both of his legs and one of his arms. How does seeing evidence of physical trauma affect your understanding of the man’s account?

From the 2021 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 103, Images of Disability, curated by Maeve McBride '20, Conroy Intern

Course History

SART 27, SART 28, SART 74, Printmaking I, II, III, Louise Hamlin, Spring 2013

SART 27, SART 28, Printmaking I-Intaglio, Printmaking II, Louise Hamlin, Winter 2014

WRIT 5, Expository Writing, William Craig, Winter 2014

SART 27/28/74, Printmaking I/II/III, Jennifer Caine, Winter 2022

Studio Art 27.01/28.01/74.01, Printmaking I/II/III, Jen Caine, Winter 2023

Theater 10.34, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 66.25, Disability Arts & Activism, Julia Havard, Spring 2023

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 47, Bearing Witness, The Abu Ghraib Project by Daniel Heyman, Kristin Monahan Garcia, MALS 2005, Assistant Curator of Academic and Student Programming and John Mathias, Class of 2011, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 5, 2008-February 1, 2009. [Exhibited in conjunction with Dartmouth College's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and its 2009 theme, "Getting to the Mountaintop: Moving through Conflict toward Reconciliation."

A Space for Dialogue, Images of Disability, Maeve McBride, Dartmouth Class of 2020, Conroy Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 9–December 19, 2021.

In Residence: Contemporary Art at Dartmouth, Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 18-July 6, 2014.

Publication History

Kristin Monahan Gracia and John Mathias, A Space for Dialogue 47, Bearing Witness, The Abu Ghraib Project by Daniel Heyman, A Space for Dialogue 47, Bearing Witness, The Abu Ghraib Project by Daniel Heyman, Kristin Monahan Garcia, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2009, ill. p. 1.

Michael R. Taylor and Gerald Auten, In Residence: Contemporary Artists at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2013, ill. p. 112 , no. 102

Provenance

The artist, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; sold to the present collection, 2007.

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Subjects