tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53997490899588490712024-03-13T11:05:51.205-04:00107,594107,594 is the estimated number of Iraqi civilians who died from violence since the US-led invasion, as of October 29th 2010 (Source: Iraq Body Count). To me, the number is so big that can only exist on computers. Using my body, I want to feel the magnitude of this number and the scale of the war destruction by writing the information of the victims on index cards. Since November 19th 2010, I have been writing the cards every day for an hour.Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-58292161463693872902011-10-16T18:51:00.003-04:002011-10-16T23:31:06.730-04:00Running out of cards to write on<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUubaD6vokjmA5dAU2FZSbF1B1LySr80w79iHoYSlpQAYvxcHwaSgdWx7BYhcpTson6sK1uBH-hcXJv2xBWiW9XtcTChOv72aBfglmHBlbcyVMhNf7k7ReWSOrG70bmOGSLhZO9BqKMOV/s1600/Picture+5.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 141px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUubaD6vokjmA5dAU2FZSbF1B1LySr80w79iHoYSlpQAYvxcHwaSgdWx7BYhcpTson6sK1uBH-hcXJv2xBWiW9XtcTChOv72aBfglmHBlbcyVMhNf7k7ReWSOrG70bmOGSLhZO9BqKMOV/s320/Picture+5.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5664298439883687346" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am running out of photo black ink for my printer. This shortage translates to not having printed index cards to write on. So, I will be taking a break today again. I am hoping that my order will arrive soon.</span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-12909242175548537412011-10-15T13:18:00.002-04:002011-10-15T13:19:52.425-04:00Skip it<span style="font-family: arial;">So, I didn't write the cards. I did not feel well. I still wanted to do it though. I went to take a nap and set my alarm clock to wake up at 10:56pm. When my alarm went off, I just did not want to do it and I went back to sleep.</span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-8986032442129117222011-09-18T12:06:00.001-04:002011-09-18T12:08:25.989-04:00Sorry<span style="font-family: arial;">I skipped it again yesterday. It was the first time that I decided to skip writing because of stress and work. I was under extreme pressure with my thesis and I started to have migraine. I told myself that I have skip writing for a day and go to bed early. Sorry. But I just could not do it.</span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-68678153172651539782011-08-14T00:26:00.002-04:002011-08-14T00:36:36.228-04:00Supplies not keeping up<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo2C2jaYgxWuNzQgaUwBBU4h5ijeXDVz7rsQ1xxP6ibaoQhHSWDc3O2HuVhGFDVZfQsrXkHFkEp-2zY8h063_T2-Z_0Yu42tDbdpArLu4kSCSnzvzV944GNFp1vwrTlVFK38mAZ_P03oAy/s1600/Picture+2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 62px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo2C2jaYgxWuNzQgaUwBBU4h5ijeXDVz7rsQ1xxP6ibaoQhHSWDc3O2HuVhGFDVZfQsrXkHFkEp-2zY8h063_T2-Z_0Yu42tDbdpArLu4kSCSnzvzV944GNFp1vwrTlVFK38mAZ_P03oAy/s320/Picture+2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640563476762454418" border="0" /></a>
<br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I am not doing my writing tonight and tomorrow night (8/13 & 14) cause I'm running out of index cards to write on. I did not stock up enough ink for my printer to print the cards. </span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I also found out that the manufacturer of the recycled index cards that I have been using is out of index cards. I need to research for other brand. </span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I have written more than 700,000 cards. I almost wonder if I am the biggest buyer of "environotes 3x5 recycled ruled index cards" in the past couple of months. If yes, does this project and the magnitute of the causality consumming all the index cards? And if this is a yes as well, it is pretty haunting. </span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> ********************************************</span>
<br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> To be honest, I am actually kind of happy that I do not have to write the cards tonight...</span>
<br />
<br />Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-53467375597646793862011-08-13T13:45:00.000-04:002011-08-13T13:47:18.595-04:00As of March 13, 2011<span style="font-family: arial;">As of March 13, 2011, approximately 267,00 cards were written. And this is what I wrote in the middle of March when I was trying to tell people about this project:</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family: arial;">"Another project that I am engaging in currently is an on-going performance that deals with my disconnection to the Iraq War while attempting to grapple the scale of the destruction. How can I relate myself to a war that is so remote and yet so real? Time and labor become my tools to examine the authenticity to my concern to the damages in Iraq."</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Today is August 13, 2011. What this project means to me besides the fact that I know I have to finish it; I do not know anymore.</span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-85527027156284400882011-01-14T19:11:00.003-05:002011-01-15T10:44:03.410-05:00Still determined<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrT5qnS0XUXmriIxyW3Paq8FgkxPJb0k_pHoLZwxa2Gay8oZOGzwofNzc4l9LH_2w5BpQ_naSDYQ8f08-RsSy2Kq8P5CYfENprir0aaWv0UZ58Hsilv-N0lRG6th6rC2s0mW8h61bAC4QY/s1600/new.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrT5qnS0XUXmriIxyW3Paq8FgkxPJb0k_pHoLZwxa2Gay8oZOGzwofNzc4l9LH_2w5BpQ_naSDYQ8f08-RsSy2Kq8P5CYfENprir0aaWv0UZ58Hsilv-N0lRG6th6rC2s0mW8h61bAC4QY/s320/new.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562438894258956402" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKQLaShPLE2iA5JWTy4eHEozrlKbP76xOGlQDkWAWB8wngFVpI19pnZBzCmov85fdX8wB1yyergZI2X6zw5n0G4WOlV5sbwj6DSc7AWBCmpRq8pJjVv0xVzyiupMtbGJkA407sjazNSqAc/s1600/IMG_0832.JPG"><br /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I am in March 2004. That means exactly a year since the war began. 13,900 cards are written and 3 pens are consummed. It's absolutely not easy to finish this project but as of today, I am still determined.</span></span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-78392768798190198262010-12-14T14:42:00.000-05:002010-12-14T14:43:13.990-05:00Hmmmmm...<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I have to admit that I'm not as into it as I thought I would be . Wait, did I talk about this already in my previous post.? Anyway, I am not sure if I'm too busy and my mind is too caught it with my work; I have no room in my brain and in my heart to think about the people who are so far away from me. I actually hope that it is the case. I do not want to think that I am heartless and numb. Am I? Maybe I need to invest more time into it in terms of doing research. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">How much time should I give myself? I know I should not be doing it if I am not interested in it anymore. But I don't want to give up yet. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I think I need to read more on existentialism. That's my plan. </p>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-28002153184658202042010-12-14T14:04:00.002-05:002010-12-14T14:43:31.104-05:00An hour does not seem to be long enough<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I'm thinking that an hour is not long enough for me to feel what I wanted to feel when I decided to do this project. An hour just goes by too fast. I want my hand to hurt. I want my body to feel the pain. So, I'm thinking maybe I should find a day when I'm less busy and just write the cards for as long as I can stand it. It will have to be sometime next year then.</span></span></p>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-71751556701651200012010-12-01T06:45:00.001-05:002010-12-01T23:51:15.204-05:00Meaning of the Unknown -- Day 12<span style="font-family:arial;">As I was writing the unknows last night, my thought of human existence finally came to me. We all will die in one way or the other. People die on this planet every second; there is nothing special about it. But with these people, we're responsible for their deaths. That's way this project is still important, maybe. Will follow up on this thought.</span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-52172367348149277432010-12-01T06:44:00.002-05:002010-12-01T23:50:48.471-05:00Too soon to quit? -- Day 11<span style="font-family:arial;">So, as I was writing them, I was thinking that it's time for me to quit as I really don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing now. Or maybe I should talk a break? But, is it too soon to quit? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Okay, I want to hang on to this thought. I'm hoping that we I'll get more out of this project when I get less busy later. Or perhaps I need to do it in the morning instead of doing it at night when I'm exhausted.</span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-44173155924875203632010-11-27T16:50:00.002-05:002010-11-27T23:45:14.151-05:00Countless of Unknowns<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfruO5_MeSgx4Ox1ylgZsM4SASEtNVB8TnyprdCo00xz-QP0IQIHC2BxLTMjoBEiyfBS5Hl3dkjjzzi9pdtetVqGLO4V5DO4aclgQ9lXQzIfXKCjeDGcA6cgwqJgskt-otwfH7S0BR-YfH/s1600/unknownIndex002.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfruO5_MeSgx4Ox1ylgZsM4SASEtNVB8TnyprdCo00xz-QP0IQIHC2BxLTMjoBEiyfBS5Hl3dkjjzzi9pdtetVqGLO4V5DO4aclgQ9lXQzIfXKCjeDGcA6cgwqJgskt-otwfH7S0BR-YfH/s320/unknownIndex002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544457040285574786" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">They really don't make any sense. I'm saying it with shame, guilt and sadness. So far on Day 8, I have writing around more than 1,700 of unknowns. They are the people who died but yet identified. So, the media did not know thier names, according to Iraq Body Count. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Maybe that's why Tony kept quoting Stalin's quote "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic". </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am reading Michael Otterman's "Erasing Iraq" now. In the forward section, I found the following words by Harold Pinter really powerful when he commented on the War in his 2005 Nobel Prize acceptance speech:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"They are blank. They are not even being recorded as dead."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What Pinter said is haunting. But what even more haunting is that what he said is true. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-16450869064039376012010-11-27T16:20:00.004-05:002010-11-27T16:25:20.806-05:00Writing at home<a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWUyxuzTXKshj_GnUwAzrKdWhdjxfMVAiLD4DaL25_Xt67Vn6o0o6MLRRtW716gWxTa4B8GOwtDVBKvxZFTj-6TMkCYStybNdQRr3LTRibWYnAH9IbbxnxXITERWPZ8yLGiigVMYLRfftU/s1600/IMG_0727.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWUyxuzTXKshj_GnUwAzrKdWhdjxfMVAiLD4DaL25_Xt67Vn6o0o6MLRRtW716gWxTa4B8GOwtDVBKvxZFTj-6TMkCYStybNdQRr3LTRibWYnAH9IbbxnxXITERWPZ8yLGiigVMYLRfftU/s320/IMG_0727.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544343356036556994" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;">Giving up 1 hour of sleep/work/play time to write the cards every day is really not easy. It takes planning to make sure that I do it before midnight. I have been doing it at around 10:30 pm to 11pm. Sometimes, I am actually a bit sleepy while doing the writing. They are not as meditative as I thought. Often, instead of thinking about these civilians and their lives, I would think about something. So, as I said in my previous post, I am still searching the meaning or the unmeaning of this project.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I am also thinking that perhaps 1 hour a day is not enough for me to feel the magnitude of the destruction. So, should I write for longer hours, say 8 hours or more a day? Or at least until my hand and my back hurt? </span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-21977414744785244102010-11-27T15:42:00.003-05:002010-11-27T15:48:56.244-05:00Day 1 - Performing at Grace Exhibition Space<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQaThN0VfhTErW3rkRPn1ee8zXuvJutGiO6lpUouB1drO5jZTsaOc7onV9CelxqwDyNHoEXbgOlrOlvKu4lJIrhZnFb10EsuUPFnk89BDJTWBwIjDOK83amfgJm5gH97DXNMB3ya24aOp/s1600/Untitled-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQaThN0VfhTErW3rkRPn1ee8zXuvJutGiO6lpUouB1drO5jZTsaOc7onV9CelxqwDyNHoEXbgOlrOlvKu4lJIrhZnFb10EsuUPFnk89BDJTWBwIjDOK83amfgJm5gH97DXNMB3ya24aOp/s400/Untitled-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544334087325186498" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So, this was it. I actually didn't know how long I was writing the cards for. Little less than 2 hours, maybe? I think I wrote around 70 cards. Anyway, it was a lot more intense than I expected. The crowd, the kind of lighting, the noise and the air at the space all put my body and mind in a state of unease. They were a bit disturbing, especially the smokey cigarettes floating in the enclosed space filled with people. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Couple minutes after the performance started, people gathered around my table and looked at what I was doing. But it was not until at least 15 minutes after that someone asked me if he could pick up the books and read them. I then said yes. Itt was the only time I was interacting with people. One man, behind my back, said to me that he thought what I was doing was really great. I ignored him. There was also someone picking up an already written card and looked at it. Overall, I was happy with the reception.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But what do that 70 something cards or names, or innocent victims mean to me? I really don't know. Writting down their names and where they died etc. has forced me to read the data carefully. For instance, I read that a family died near a US Amry check point. But then what? I am actually afraid to admit that I am as detached as I was before. I am anixous to find out what I have to say about what I feel in say a month or 3 months. </span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-43972276120026940952010-11-19T00:16:00.001-05:002010-11-19T00:16:12.989-05:00Tomorrow<span style="font-family: arial;">In less than 24 hours, this project is going to kick off at the show at Grace Exhibition Space. I practiced wrting the cards this afternoon and wrote for 1 hour. An hour is actually not as long as I thought. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Today, a colleague of mine said how come I pick such a time-consuming project to work on. Yes, the scale of this project is scary, not to mention the subject matter which I do not konw much about. Does it mean that I should not do it? I don't know, I really don't know. All I know is that I finally realize and admit that I am doing this Iraq War project for myself and I finally have the courage to allow myself to do so. This project has almost become not about the innocent people who died but about me who is trying to find out my relationship to my work as an artist. Does it make sense? </span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-67441676677986946342010-11-18T23:27:00.003-05:002010-11-18T23:50:47.446-05:00An Hour a Day<span style="font-family:arial;">After tomorrow, I am planning to write the cards for an hour every day until I'm done. Why 1 hour? For I don't think I will achieve my goal to feel this number of victims if I do it in any durations that is less than an hour. Can I really do it? Am I willing to put aside 1 hour every day from my busy schedule to write the cards?<br /><br />Honestly, I am afraid to make this commitment. But this is also exactly why I have to do this. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">I want to see how long I can do this. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">I want to see how much I care about what's going on over there. So, there is a possibility that I am not going to finish the writing. And if that is the case, does it mean that I fail? Should I be afraid of failure? Tony has a quote on his email signature from Beckett that says:<br /><br />"…admit that to be an artist is to fail, as no other dare fail, that failure is his world and the shrink from it desertion….I know that all that is required now, in order to make of this submission, this admission, this fidelity to failure, a new occasion, a new term of relation, and of the act which unable to act, obliged to act, he makes, an expressive act, even if only of itself, its impossibility, of its obligation."<br /><br />I did not understand what it meant until I decide to do this project.<br /><br />After I talked about my struggle regarding if I should do this project or not in my Performance Projects class, my colleague Anthony Montuori wrote the following on the class blog:<br /><br />"I think its ok to admit that a work cannot be carried out. Or that a work is not worth the effort. Or that it isn't going to be effective beyond its conceptual origins. Or that there aren't enough hours in the day to ever finish larger projects. Or that an idea needs to be shifted even after we feel we've reached a point of no return. Or that we might waste money. Or that our audience is def or no where to be found. Or that some battles are not ours to fight. Or whatever.<br /><br />Be honest and enjoy the art you make even if it hurts to make it. Don't do anything unless you absolutely believe you must. "<br /><br />Thank you Anthony!<br /></span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-92014485170101706712010-11-18T23:26:00.000-05:002010-11-18T23:27:09.004-05:00What am I really doing?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJrm0JEmw8d-RsHhOQeDEF7mownb_asm48ktek1pkuT4psdzMmyrGeycuBobwfqbnodfeOLLhUUHLAOdQ3SS2Ia3xkwLWoHby2jYTZG1u6oHPTb6_ggNSJgi-UqdmcUh1T2DhJufpXsCK/s1600/IMG_0710.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJrm0JEmw8d-RsHhOQeDEF7mownb_asm48ktek1pkuT4psdzMmyrGeycuBobwfqbnodfeOLLhUUHLAOdQ3SS2Ia3xkwLWoHby2jYTZG1u6oHPTb6_ggNSJgi-UqdmcUh1T2DhJufpXsCK/s320/IMG_0710.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541112615317074882" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">As I'm preparing and printing the excel documents, I finally realize what Jeannie said on my review board in Spring. By copy the names from the excel doc to the index cards, what exactly has I done? I don't feel that i'm transforming the data at all. So, I think at this point, what makes this work still meaningful is for me to experience the numbers of death via writing the names down.</span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399749089958849071.post-55191341564640648232010-11-17T23:49:00.004-05:002010-11-18T23:24:28.846-05:00Writing 107,594 names?<a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXXIxSEnqXAGpd3rfZcl02vWrw48d28pFw3AYM6kAw2p9ayy27vQpPTjtVJ_YUZcPdR-KLqJq80B9vzxmVOtBjon5J2rEBm8d-SPjM_SMiU9Z08f_Fk82rVxqZZWTar_XMrKxkPTjhc_R_/s1600/indexCards001.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXXIxSEnqXAGpd3rfZcl02vWrw48d28pFw3AYM6kAw2p9ayy27vQpPTjtVJ_YUZcPdR-KLqJq80B9vzxmVOtBjon5J2rEBm8d-SPjM_SMiU9Z08f_Fk82rVxqZZWTar_XMrKxkPTjhc_R_/s320/indexCards001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540747757134517746" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'm going to write the names of the documented Iraqi civilians who died in the Iraq war using data from Iraq Body Count (</span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.iraqbodycount.org/">www.iraqbodycount.org</a><span style="font-family:arial;">) on recycled index cards. As of October 29th, 2010, the count was up to 107,594. So, that means I'm going to write over hundred thousands index cards. My idea is to experience the magnitude of the destruction through my action. I also what to challenge myself to see how much time I am willing to put aside from my daily routine to do this. Honestly, I do know what writing these names mean to me especially most of the names would be 'Unknown' as most victims are not yet identified. But I think I would never know until I do it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I don't what I am going to do with the index cards yet. Depending on how this project goes, I hope I can show them in the future.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I will start this process by writing it in public at <a href="http://www.grace-exhibition-space.com">Grace Exhibition Space</a>, Brooklyn as part of the 'Future Is Now!' show as a durational performance on 11/19/2010.</span>Joanna Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14732929194504083199noreply@blogger.com