For the past four years, Daniel Heyman has traveled to Jordan and Turkey to meet with former detainees, paint their portraits, and record their testimonies. This exhibition includes painted and printed portraits of Iraqis who were imprisoned at Abu Ghraib and other sites in Iraq. Each delicately rendered and evocative portrait includes first-person testimony gathered by the artist while sitting in on interviews between the Iraqi victims and their American lawyers in Istanbul and Amman from 2006 to 2008.
Come view the paintings Friday April, 23 from 5 to 7pm in the Zilkha Gallery
Additional bodies of work include portraits of African American Philadelphians, and portraits of U.S. veterans. A large-scale, site-specific installation will be featured in North Gallery. By placing the installation on wooden scaffolding, elevating the viewer above ground level, Heyman’s intention is to create a new and precarious space for the contemplation of aesthetics and politics. Heyman received degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania and prestigious grants from the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Independence Foundation, the AMJ Foundation and the Rhode Island School of Design. He has had residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell and the Nagasawa Art Park in Awajishima, Japan. Heyman lives in Philadelphia and teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design, Princeton University, and Swarthmore College.