EXTRAORDINARY
RENDITION
Michael Cardacino
What were we willing not to see?
I made Rendition during the years following September 11 and the invasion of Iraq. Suspected terrorists were held at Guantanamo and in secret prisons. Then came the photographs from Abu Ghraib. The images were there for everyone to see. I was horrified by what was happening - and by how willing so many of us seemed to be to accept what was being done in our name.
The story we were told
See, hear, speak ... do
I brought the four monkeys into the work: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil - and the fourth, do no evil. That fourth monkey matters. What we choose to do is part of the question.
The apparatus
The body, the monkeys and the eye are not separate symbols. They become one apparatus. The eye sits beneath the seesaw, literally supporting what is happening above it.
The body, the monkeys and the eye are not separate symbols. They become one apparatus. The eye sits
beneath the seesaw, literally supporting what is happening above it.
The bucket
The bucket and water bring the interrogation apparatus into focus. Its stars connect that violence to the patriotic imagery surrounding it.
The money
I included money bags and Monopoly figures because I was thinking about the wealth that war can generate. Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex. Today, AI gives that warning another dimension for me. Who benefits, who decides, and who bears the consequences?
The eye
The eye inside the triangle is about seeing more deeply.
Understanding the true nature of existence can help bring balance to the fear, anger, greed and confusion surrounding us.
Looking into our own hearts
I was not simply asking what the government was doing. I was asking what we were willing to accept. I hope people look at Extraordinary Rendition with their own sensibilities, question what they are told, and examine what they can accept.