The Art of Abu Ghraib

Showing now at the American University Museum:

Fernando Botero's Abu Ghraib series features uncompromising, graphic images by this Colombian painter expressing his outrage at the American-led torture of Iraqi insurgents.

The Paris-based Botero, known for his exaggeratedly rotund figures in benign social satires, unveiled these controversial works in Europe in 2005. This will be the first showing of the Abu Ghraib paintings and drawings in a museum in the U.S.

The works in this exhibition are quite the departure from Botero's usual style, but do relate to his previous works portraying drug cartel violence in Colombia. Botero constructed each work after reading official reports of the atrocities and concentrated on the suffering and dignity of the victims rather than their tormentors.