Nine portraits of Iraqis

2006. Each is one of thirty copies. All signed and dated by the artist. No binding. Fine. Each etched portrait places at its center, as if in a harsh spotlight, the face of an Iraqi prisoner formerly detained and tortured by the United States government. Over the rest of the space tumble the scratched narrative of the brutal treatment that prisoner experienced. The integration of text and image is a chief preoccupation throughout Heyman's body of work; here the two are provocatively intertwined into a knotted critique of the way images of prisoners circulate and how those images take on perverse semiotic meanings. This collection appeared in a series of exhibitions between 2008 and 2011 at the University of Iowa, Swarthmore College, Wesleyan University, Loyola Marymount University, and Linfield College. All sheets fine. A powerful visual testament to the questionable tactics employed by US intelligence operatives during the Iraq conflict. 27 x 22 1/4 in.