Artist Ala Younis is presenting a new piece of work entitled “Tin Soldiers” at the Istanbul Art Biennale. The festival presents works that show a relationship between art and politics. Many of the pieces are politically charged and outspoken and Ala Younis's “Tin Soldiers” is no different.
“Tin Soldiers” depicts the nine armies of the Middle East that have been implicated or subject to acts of war in the Middle East. Each solider is cast from the same mold and hand painted to represent Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria or Turkey. This comes to a total of 12,235 soldiers.
These thousands of perfectly aligned soldiers are meant to show “the results of the instrumentalizing of individuals through political and economic agendas.”
