Wafaa Bilal

As an Iraqi American, Wafaa Bilal is all too aware of the assumptions that are associated with his nationality. Bilal interrogates these social and political misconceptions by casting himself as the protagonist in performance-based installations that are as much a test of his endurance as they are critiques of contemporary cultural relations.

On display will be recreations of . . . And Counting and Domestic Tension in which Bilal uses his own body—both literally and virtually—to draw attention to enduring. For more information on these works, check out this recent feature on National Public Radio (NPR).

Iraqi born artist Wafaa Bilal has exhibited his art world wide, and traveled and lectured extensively to inform audiences of the situation of the Iraqi people, and the importance of peaceful conflict resolution. Bilal’s 2007 dynamic installation Domestic Tension placed him on the receiving end of a paintball gun that was accessible online to a worldwide audience, 24 hours a day. His website received over 80 million hits and he was shot at over 65,000 times. Newsweek called the project “breathtaking” and the Chicago Tribune called the month-long piece “one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time,” and named Bilal its 2007 Artist of the Year. He is currently an Assistant Arts Professor at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

Special thanks to the artist and Nathan Suter, Executive Director of the Helen Day Art Center, for their assistance during the organization of this exhibition for Davidson College.