Shifting States: Iraq

Luis Cruz Azaceta, who immigrated to the United States from Havana during the Cuban Revolution, began a series he called Shifting States after seeing news coverage of the uprisings in the Middle East collectively referred to as the Arab Spring. Here a central black and orange shape floating in the cloud of a smoky explosion suggests the centrality of oil to the area's political turmoil. Attached to it are elements that resemble bombs, cannons, minarets, oil rigs, and the antennae that powered social media used by both the protesters and government surveillance teams. For Azaceta, this series "maps a new terrain" of our uncertain, current times.