Wafaa Bilal, "168:01," May 28 to Aug. 28 at the Esker Foundation in Calgary
![Wafaa Bilal, "The Ashes Series: Al-Mutanabbi Street," 2003-2013 Wafaa Bilal, "The Ashes Series: Al-Mutanabbi Street," 2003-2013](https://www.gallerieswest.ca/downloads/7398/download/Bilal_THEASHES_16b.jpg?cb=565f4bc0af8d6cdf492ce88246108626&w={width}&h={height})
Wafaa Bilal, "The Ashes Series: Al-Mutanabbi Street," 2003-2013
Wafaa Bilal, "The Ashes Series: Al-Mutanabbi Street," 2003-2013, archival inkjet photograph, 40” x 50”
Iraqi-born, New York-based artist Wafaa Bilal’s 168:01 features a makeshift library filled with empty white books. They symbolize the priceless cultural heritage destroyed by Mongols at Bayt al-Hikma, a major academic centre during the Islamic Golden Age, as well as cultural institutions decimated more recently in Iraq. Visitors can donate books on a wish list compiled by the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad. The institution's library was looted and destroyed in 2003.
![Esker Foundation.jpg Esker Foundation.jpg](https://www.gallerieswest.ca/downloads/5795/download/Esker%20Foundation.jpg?cb=886e735ff8129b0837dbe7438abc2466&w={width}&h={height})
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