Extraction, Spillage

Following the fall of the Assad regime, I received images from my family in Qamishli, often showing oil rigs and military presence. Translating the military tactic of “fire and movement” into drawing, each image was drawn, scanned, and repeatedly photocopied, introducing mechanical error and deformation, before being redrawn in pencil using precise vertical lines and no expressive marks. This recursive process produces distance and unfamiliarity, as the image shifts through successive translations. Borders, structures, and compositional forces become more pronounced as the image fragments and persists across stages of reproduction.