Publications

Saddam Mania

By Teun Voeten (photography) and Sharoz Makarechi (design)

When Voeten arrived in April 2003 in Baghdad, just after the fall of Saddam Hussein, he was fascinated by a cult of personality he had not seen before. Saddam portraits were omnipresent. The ousted ruler had taken on multiple persona like a stern yet benevolent ruler, a macho army leader, a pietous sheik, a succes full diplomat, even a sexy playboy. Within a week of his fall, most of his portraits were defaced and ultimately destroyed. Voeten managed to photograph as many of them as possible. In a ground breaking and controversial show in 2005, New York based creative director and curator Sharoz Makarechi exhibited most of the images larger than life at the gallery space of Think Tank 3 in Lower Manhattan. Saddam Mania is more as a catalogue: It is a smart social critic that reveals Saddam as a Super Brand in itself.

Details

Published in 2006 by Think Tank 3, New York, in a special custom made, hand signed edition of 12
Price: $500
Format: 15 by 22 cm, spray painted hard cover
Pages: 24, including 18 custom made giclee prints and an introductory essay by Sharoz Makarechi.
ISBN: not available