Artist 3D Prints Replicas of Artifacts Destroyed by Terrorism

In countries like Iraq and Syria, historical sites are at risk of being lost for good. ISIS has already destroyed dozens of the region's cultural and architectural treasures, including the Temple of Baalshamin at Palmyra. Now, Middle East Eye reports that one Iranian-American artist is on a mission to revive them through her artwork. 

As part of her ongoing project titled Material Speculation: ISIS, San Francisco-based Morehshin Allahyari takes artifacts destroyed by ISIS and creates versions of them using a 3D printer. According to her website, the project "intends to use 3D printing as a process for repairing history and memory."

Each replica is printed using transparent materials, and in their cores, Allahyari embeds a USB stick or memory card containing photos, maps, and videos that highlight the original work. The digital information can be removed from the actual models, or downloaded from the Internet. 

As part of a similar initiative, Project Mosul is crowdsourcing photos of artifacts destroyed during ISIS's sack of the Mosul Museum with the goal of creating a "virtual museum" based on what they gather. Anyone who has photos from past trips to the museum can upload them directly to the project's website. 

Banner image via contemporaryistanbul // Instagram.

[h/t Middle East Eye]