Iconoclasm

Mosul

In a video posted online on 26 February 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) entered the Mosul Museum in Iraq to destroy ancient Assyrian and Akkadian artifacts they deemed “idolatrous.” Members of the group are seen pushing over statues and using jackhammers and sledgehammers to deface others.

However, not all of the museum’s collection were damaged by ISIL. While the most impacted were the Assyrian and Hatrene areas of the museum, the Islamic hall, which held many priceless antiquities, was not destroyed or not shown in the video.

Sam Durant, Mosul, 2015, (2018) Graphite on paper,130.2 x 212.1 cm. © Sam Durant, Courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo. Photo: Makenzie Goodman