Sabba Syal Elahi
Pakistani American, born 1980
Biography5/27/18: Sabba prefers her full middle name to be included (eke).
Much of Sabba Syal Elahi’s practice reflects on the seemingly endless global war on terror and the cyclical nature of violence. In 2014, over the course of eight hours, Elahi wrote the names of 700 victims of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, as reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Naming the Dead Project. Although touted for its technological accuracy, a staggering number of civilian and child casualties of the drone strikes went unreported. Elahi’s work gives those unnamed victims a voice while simultaneously condemning the casualness with which the strikes have been officially handled.
Much of Sabba Syal Elahi’s practice reflects on the seemingly endless global war on terror and the cyclical nature of violence. In 2014, over the course of eight hours, Elahi wrote the names of 700 victims of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, as reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Naming the Dead Project. Although touted for its technological accuracy, a staggering number of civilian and child casualties of the drone strikes went unreported. Elahi’s work gives those unnamed victims a voice while simultaneously condemning the casualness with which the strikes have been officially handled.
Person TypeIndividual
Italian (Florentine), active ca. 1480-1510
