Baghdad in No Particular Order (2003)

In 2002, artist Paul Chan worked as a member of the Iraq Peace Team, formed by the Chicago-based activist group Voices in the Wilderness (now Voices for Creative Nonviolence), which was on the ground in Baghdad to protest the US aggression against Iraq. Chan captures the calm before the storm in this “ambient video essay” through a focus on the routine work and leisure of the Iraqi people. Among the details that are exotic to western eyes, he reveals a shared humanity, one that is under threat of destruction. With Joe Proulx of Voices for Creative Nonviolence in person.