31 days in Iraq

“If you look at what’s transpired in Iraq, Chris, we’ve made enormous progress.”
US Vice President Dick Cheney, Fox News interview, January 14th, 2007.

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A visual depiction of the continuing human cost of the Iraq war,
by Adriana Lins de Albuquerque and Alicia Cheng. From the NYT.

In January more than 1,900 people—soldiers, security officers and civilians—were killed in the insurgency in Iraq, up from 800 in January 2006. Many corpses showed signs of torture, meaning the victims were probably killed by religious and tribal death squads. This map, based on data from the American, British and Iraqi governments and from news reports, shows the dates, locations and circumstances of deaths for the first month of the year. Given the vast size of Iraq and the communications difficulties inherent in war, the information may be incomplete. Nonetheless, it is our effort to visually depict the continuing human cost of the Iraq war.

Adriana Lins de Albuquerque is a doctoral student in political science at Columbia.
Alicia Cheng is a graphic designer at mgmt. design in Brooklyn.

Update: Seems like The Independent was taken with this as well.

Previously on { feuilleton }
Liberty 2006

Seamen in great distress eat one another

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Seamen in great distress eat one another (1685).

From Wonderful Prodigies of Judgement and Mercy by Robert Burton. One of those incidents, like witch burnings and other executions, whose quaint period depiction is at considerable odds with what would have been an appalling reality. This picture can’t help but bring to mind Théodore Géricault’s masterpiece, The Raft of the Medusa, based on a later occurrence of sea-faring cannibalism.

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The Raft of the Medusa (1819).

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I photographed Géricault’s grave when I was in Père Lachaise cemetery in September. As well as the statue of the artist lounging atop his monument, the tomb features panels at the front and sides with bronze reliefs of his most famous works. The Raft of the Medusa faces the path.

Previously on { feuilleton }
Druillet meets Hodgson
Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys
Davy Jones