Drone Strikes, Laser Cut MDF, 2016

3,123, 2016, MDF – This artwork is part of my contribution to the Zayed University Research Cluster entitled, Responsible Monitoring of the Environment, otherwise known as the  “Drone Research Cluster”. My part of the research cluster is called, “My Drone is not a toy”.  It is meant to artistically try and replicate the rise of the drone culture for fun, science, animal preservation, and war.  This particle piece is related to the United States drone strikes in the country of Pakistan.  When I first got to Abu Dhabi, I hailed a taxi and I asked, “Where are you from?” The taxi driver responded, “Pakistan”.  My first response was, “I hope your family is okay”. I, as an American, thought we were bombing the entire country. In talking with the taxi drivers, they relayed to me that they hated Americans until they got to Abu Dhabi and met them.  These maps display the location of  the US drone strikes in Pakistan.

Below, you will see the process of creating this work. First, I had to map out the drone strikes in Adobe Illustrator. Then I used a laser cutter to precisely burn the MDF wood and cut out the shape of the country of Pakistan and the effected area of the drone strikes North and South Waziristan.

Keywords: Data Visualization, map making, drones