08:41
2010
“Three Love Songs” explores the multiple ways to use and manipulate images to create juxtapositions of meanings from the mundane to the extreme. This piece examines terror and love, and how façades are played through song, specifically Iraqi songs that were commissioned by Saddam Hussein, which were used to glorify the regime during his reign.
The installation syncs three stylised music videos (lounge, jazz and pop) each of which features an archetypal western chanteuse: young, blonde, and seductive. Each video’s dramatic ‘look’ creates a different atmosphere; it is the songs dedicated to Saddam Hussein that bind them together. The lyrics are sung by the performers in Arabic (Iraqi dialect) and are subtitled in English and Arabic. The singers do not comprehend the content of the songs; instead, they are directed to perform, vocally and by gesture, as though the songs were traditional, passionate love songs. It is this uncomfortable juxtaposition—between the lush visual romanticism and the harsh meaning of the lyrics, between the seduction of the performer and comprehension of the viewer—that forms the main conceptual element of this work.