"Everyday Suspects": Chicago Exhibition Delves Into Drone Invasion of Everyday Life

A new exhibition in Chicago is a stunning illustration of the way the arts are being used in unexpected ways to dig into the deep questions raised by drones and drone warfare:

In Everyday Suspects, BOLT Resident Sabba S. Elahi examines agents of warfare, calling into question the scrutinization of our everyday actions.

The exhibition presents a working list of Pakistani drone casualties, collected from an online archive published by the Bureau of Investigative Journalists. Her hand-embroidered and drawn imagery moves the viewer through aerial and peripheral views of domestic and civil spaces, the benign and the personal. Elahi’s work interrogates what is happening in many Muslim American communities, monitored where they live, work, and pray. Elahi’s human suspects haunt us with the vulnerability of the mundane and subtle gestures of everyday patterns.

Special Event

Everyday Suspects closing reception, and performance by Ahalya Satkunaratnam:
July 17, 5:30-8:00pm, Chicago Artist Coalition, 217 N Carpenter St., Chicago, IL 60607


Related posts

Two dramatic productions give Chicago audiences opportunities to explore the questions of where drones and drone warfare are leading us.

(See Drone Drama: Chicago Productions Ask Where Drones Are Taking Us)

Creative resistance is the heart of the movement to stop drone surveillance and warfare. There were wonderful examples across the country during the April Days of Action Against Drones 2013. Check out all the resources linked below . . . and contribute your own!

(See Creative Resistance in the NSDSW Wiki)

The Drones Quilt Project is currently on tour across the USA. The exhibit consists of 3 to 5 quilts of 36 blocks, each measuring 66″ x 66″, four information panels measuring 20″ x 30″ each, and a resource/take action handout. We hope to have the exhibit travel the country, so if you are interested in hosting the exhibit in your town . . .

(See Radical Quilting: Contribute To The Drones Quilt Project)

Chicago: Protesting Obama's Drone Wars - The Death of Hope and Change

At the same time that attendees at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte were getting ready to hear Michelle Obama explain why her husband deserves a second term, people in Chicago gathered at Obama 2012 Headquarters to protest Obama's drone wars and lay "Hope" and "Change" to rest.


The protest, on Tuesday, September 4, was part of a week of protest called by Occupy Chicago during the DNC. Members of Occupy Chicago and others gathered from Jackson and LaSalle -- the drone replica from Know Drones formed a powerful statement, with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) as a backdrop.

The "funeral procession" progressed from Jackson and LaSalle to Obama's National Campaign Headquarters on East Randolph, carried 10 coffins marked "Hope" and "Change."

Together with the coffins, we "delivered" the drone replica which we have used at recent actions in Chicago, prominently labeled:

Delivery Order

ONE (1) DRONE:
MQ-5 Reaper, with full array
of Hellfire and PAVE missiles

DELIVER TO: Obama 2012 Campaign HQ
ORDERED BY: The White House, Barack Obama, President

Special Instructions:

Display in reception area (in place of copy of U.S. Constitution).
Send the bill to the American people.

The overall thrust of the Chicago action was to say that we are no longer fooled by the spectacle of the two main American political parties.  We know  we are not being offered any real choice, and we're not keeping quiet any longer.

(Meanwhile, in Charlotte, it was business as usual, with the word "drones" off limits.  Read Michael Tracy's account of how he was evicted from the convention for asking Valerie Jarrett to comment on the drone killings.)

At the end of the Chicago action, we took the drone model with us. But the coffins stayed -- to remind people of what Obama has done.




PRESS COVERAGE

Lee Klawans on examiner.com: Chicago protesters rally against Obama's drone attacks. View the full Lee Klawans slideshow.

CBS: Occupy Activists Protest Outside Obama Campaign HQ During DNC

Chicagoist: Activists Leave Coffins In Front of Obama Campaign Headquarters

Occupied Chicago Tribune: Breaking with Convention: Chicago Protests GOP in Tampa, Democrats at Home

MORE . . .

Read about the protests in Charlotte against the Obama administration's drone warfare during the DNC.

Learn more about other recent drone protests in Chicago.