Chagos (Waterboarded Documents 002), 2015

Chagos (Waterboarded Documents 002), 2015

James Bridle

Mixed media

119 x 110 x 72 cm

Waterboarded Documents presents a series of research documents exploring the hidden history and geopolitical complexities of the British Indian Ocean Territory, specifically the islands of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago. Presented on custom-built steel and glass tables, the installation includes maps and classified documents that reveal the islands’ involvement in human rights abuses, electronic surveillance, and forced displacement, as well as its use as a U.S. military base and CIA black site. Deliberately defaced to resemble water damage—a reference to the British Government’s claim that crucial evidence was “damaged by water”—, the documents illustrate the complicity between contemporary technological networks and older forms of entrenched and imperial power

 

Chagos (Waterboarded Documents 002), 2015Chagos (Waterboarded Documents 002), 2015Chagos (Waterboarded Documents 002), 2015Chagos (Waterboarded Documents 002), 2015