• Exhibit

Shadow and Light

The Shadow and Light project, compiled by poet and activist Beau Beausoleil, memorializes Iraqi academics assassinated between 2003 and 2012.

This event has already occurred

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January 20, 2023 - April 14, 2023 @ Fisher Fine Arts Library
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Fisher Fine Arts Library
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Open to the Public
Basil al-Karji (#8) by Marcos Goymil

The Shadow and Light project, compiled by poet and activist Beau Beausoleil, memorializes Iraqi academics assassinated between 2003 and 2012. This timeframe roughly parallels the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. To create the project, participants from all over the world selected the name of an assassinated Iraqi academic to memorialize with a photograph and a personal narrative.

For this exhibition, Middle East Studies librarian Heather Hughes and Associate Professor of Arabic Literature Huda Fakhreddine selected 20 pieces from the 60 individuals commemorated in the larger project, which uses as a touchstone a list of 324 assassinated Iraqi academics. These selections illuminate the spectrum of educators, scholars, and artists lost to the violence prompted by the U.S.-led invasion, occupation and resulting sectarian violence in Iraq.

Plan Your Visit

This exhibition is free and open to the public and located in the Fisher Fine Arts Library at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Members of the Penn community may view the exhibition anytime Fisher is open. Visitors from outside Penn may visit 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays.

Penn faculty, staff, and students must swipe their PennCard for access. Visitors from outside the Penn community must present a current, valid government or school-issued photo I.D. that contains an expiration date. Find more information and plan your visit.

Featured Image: Basil al-Karji (#8) by Marcos Goymil