Jasmine: Memorial to Drone Strike Victims, 2018
Participatory memorial.
This project involved the creation of a temporary, rooftop installation for Studio 7 Gallery exhibition "May We Not Go Up There?" curated by Iftikhar Chohan and Mehreen Hashmi. The installation was a temporary, participatory memorial to the civilian victims of drone strikes in North Waziristan. The memorial was created by arranging 360 Jasmine plants in ceramic pots to form the shape of a full-sized Predator drone. Jasmine is the national flower of Pakistan. At the end of the exhibition, the plants were gifted to gallery visitors – thus allowing the memorial to scatter throughout the cities' many homes and gardens.
This is the first of what the artists hopes will be a series of memorials to be staged in the various countries currently and historically bombed by UAV/weaponized drones. Each memorial will involve the national flower of the country in question. The intention is, where possible, to create permanent flower bed memorials of this type in the various countries in question.
Iraq = Roses Yemen = Arabica Coffee Blossom
Syria = Jasmine Afghanistan = Tulip
Somalia = The King Protea
Jasmine Drone Memorial, 2018 rooftop Studio Seven Karachi
Jasmine Drone Memorial, 2018 project proposal diagram
Jasmine Drone Memorial, 2018 original proposal