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The female body featured is the figure of a woman extracted from Jacques-Louis David's The Intervention of the Sabine Women (1799), in which the acts of women during a bloody battle promote understanding between the King of Rome and the Sabines. By appropriating one of the women from David's piece, Abichandani launches a critique of the artist's choice to use women's bodies for acts of violent reconciliation. The work relates to the rape and murder by Allied troops in Afghanistan of a 15 year old girl, here recontextualised and commenting on the violent repetition of history, and the brutal objectification of women and their bodies.

the rape of....

collection of Florian Peters Messers
the rape of....

collection of Florian Peters Messers
collage on canvas
8 x 10 inches
2007