Chapter 4: Harsh Reflections | The Enemies Project

Harsh Reflection was a projection performance work in which I projected onto my body abstracted images of number plates photographed at sites of mass graves in Kashmir.

While in Kashmir, I visited several mass grave sites. There are many of these sites scattered across Kashmir – they dot nameless hillsides, and extend under the trees just beyond site of the road. I was taken to these hills by people who were told by the Indian security to bury bodies of Kashmiri men. All of the bodies were anonymous. The graves are identified only with hand-painted numbers on small metal plates at the foot of each grave. I photographed over a hundred numbers. I worked quickly, because the men showing me the graves had been arrested and tortured for showing the graves to others in the past. What was I doing endangering these men for an art project. The blur between art and life in the project sharpened intensely on these visits.

I created this performance when I returned as an expression of these experiences.

This is one chapter in a larger project called “The Enemies Project.” In an effort to blur the distinction between art and life, I traveled to conflicts around the world seeking to unite current and past enemies. Read more about the project here.