A direct response to the Coalition invasion of Iraq, The Sorrows Multiply visualizes the magnitude and tragedy of this war. Situated below the ceiling of the gallery, thousands of paper squares are stacked in a custom-built mechanical device. 115,800 in total, they represent the most conservative estimate of civilian causalities in the conflict. Over the course of the exhibition they are mechanically pushed to the floor below. Blown around the gallery space, they build in number consuming the room in a violent and mesmeric snowstorm.
The Sorrows Multiply explores the power of design to evoke the innumerable scale of contemporary events through information visualisation strategies. The exhibition is significant because it pushes the conventional display of information into new and more engaging territory. While aiming to convey contextualised data, The Sorrows Multiply also explores affective rather than didactic modes of presentation, and shifts from conventional graphic modes of print and screen display to environmental installation.
