In March, 2012, more than 90 Iraqi students with ‘emo’ appearances were stoned to death by religious extremists in Baghdad. In collaboration with Adel Abidin, an international artist from Iraq, LOCI was commissioned to develop and build the concept. Abidin took this single event and transformed it into a tangible experience that examines death, the soul’s quest for liberation and the tragic price paid in the name of freedom. Symphony is homage to these young people.

Al-Warqaa is inspired by Avicenna’s poem (Ode to a Human Soul), which compares the journey of the soul to the flight of a dove. In his verses the soul represents a timeless, ethereal entity that soars beyond the body after death. It signifies eternity, detached from the heavenly sphere. A suspended object radiates light and depicts an intangible outline of a dove reflecting this concept through a visual language.

A suspended light-based sculpture radiates light and depicts an intangible outline of a dove reflecting this concept through a visual language.