Michael Rakowitz: Nimrud

Using Arab-language newspapers and wrappers from food products imported from the Middle East, Iraqi American artist Michael Rakowitz has recreated to scale Room H from the Northwest Palace of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud (Kalhu). Areas from which the reliefs had already been removed by 19th-century archaeologists are left blank, resulting in what Rakowitz calls 'a palimpsest of different moments of removal'.Part of a reception suite, Room H was originally lined with seven-foot-tall carved stone reliefs, including an inscription detailing Ashurnasirpal II's achievements and winged male figures, many of which have been removed by Western archaeologists over the last 150 years. Here, Rakowitz has 'reappeared' only those panels that were in situ in Room H when the remains of the palace were destroyed by the jihadist group the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015.
ISBN 9781636810256. DelMonico Books/Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College. hb. 144 pages. 120 colour, 20 b&w ills. 25.4 x 28.6 cm. .
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