Interdisciplinary Arts & Media MFA Kevin Valentine has been invited to participate in a Panel Discussion on Thursday 9/30/2010 as part of the Iraq History Project Art Festival at DePaul University College of Law! The week-long event will feature a wide-ranging exploration of activist art, including film screenings, panel discussions, a play reading & artist presentations. Valentine’s 2010 Thesis Project: Widows Weave, is an ongoing attempt to draw three million lines in reference to the three million Iraqi war widows. This striking project is powerful work of art and advocacy that makes use of impressive conceptual and technical strategies.

The Iraq History Project Art Festival uses investigative work undertaken by the Law School as inspiration for Chicago area artists to create work in all mediums, highlighting personal stories of both oppressors and the oppressed in Iraq, from 1968-2008. This unique collaboration between artists and the activist law school uses art to capture the essence of the often-tragic stories, as well as explore the manner in which art can be used for socially transformative purposes.

Depaul University’s Iraq History Project is a series of gathered personal narratives from victims and their families, witnesses, perpetrators, and others regarding human rights violations committed during Saddam Hussein’s regime, as well as under the American occupation. These testimonies document experiences of torture, massacres, assassinations, rape, chemical weapons attacks, disappearances and other acts of systematic repression.

Twenty participating artists chose a specific story to illustrate, using a medium of their choice. Media represented include theater, photography, painting, drawing, graphic arts, digital processes and others.

For the complete schedule of events, contact Tom Block at tblock@depaul.edu