Eric Demay

Young photographer Richard Mosses discusses with BLDGBLG his recent visit and photographs of Saddam Hussein’s palaces in Iraq where American soldiers have established living quarters amongst the rubble and marble. Gorgeous pictures.

“Vast, self-indulgent halls of columned marble and extravagant chandeliers, surrounded by pools, walls, moats, and, beyond that, empty desert, suddenly look more like college dormitories. Weight sets, flags, partition walls, sofas, basketball hoops, and even posters of bikini’d women have been imported to fill Saddam’s spatial residuum. The effect is oddly decorative, as if someone has simply moved in for a long weekend, unpacking an assortment of mundane possessions.”