The National Mall in Southwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
We Come in Peace, 2018
Huma Bhabha, Pakistani American, b. Karachi, Pakistan, 1962
— Painted and patinated bronze. Approved acquisition of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden —
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), October 24, 2021
1. We Come in Peace, 2018 Marker
Inscription.
We Come in Peace, 2018. Huma Bhabha, Pakistani American, b. Karachi, Pakistan, 1962. Huma Bhabha's striking sculptural creatures appear to have emerged from either the prehistoric past or a postapocalyptic future. Bhabha, who often cites pulp horror and science-fiction cinema as important points of departure, drew this work's title from director Robert Wise's iconic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). In the film's most famous scene, an alien emerges from a spaceship onto the White House lawn and utters the words "We have come to visit you in peace" to an assembled group of soldiers and civilians, who subsequently open fire upon the stranger. Bhabha consciously views her practice as embedded within a long sculptural tradition (compare, for example, her work and Rodin's Walking Man, also in the Garden, and a touchstone for the artist, which both explore the concept of implied movement). Yet she is also attentive to the complicated realities of the present, where the idea of "the Other" is often weaponized to generate and justify oppression and violence. The many-faced We Come In Peace offers timely questions about our ideas of the familiar and unfamiliar, the alien and the native, and that which unifies us most: a search for belonging.
Huma Bhabha's striking sculptural creatures appear to have emerged from either the prehistoric past or a postapocalyptic future. Bhabha, who often cites pulp horror and science-fiction cinema as important points of departure, drew this work's title from director Robert Wise's iconic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). In the film's most famous scene, an alien emerges from a spaceship onto the White House lawn and utters the words "We have come to visit you in peace" to an assembled group of soldiers and civilians, who subsequently open fire upon the stranger. Bhabha consciously views her practice as embedded within a long sculptural tradition (compare, for example, her work and Rodin's Walking Man—also in the Garden, and a touchstone for the artist—which both explore the concept of implied movement). Yet she is also attentive to the complicated realities of the present, where the idea of "the Other" is often weaponized to generate and justify oppression and violence. The many-faced We Come In Peace offers timely questions about our ideas of the familiar and unfamiliar, the alien and the native, and that which unifies us most: a search for belonging.
Erected by Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music
Location. 38° 53.345′ N, 77° 1.374′ W. Marker is in Southwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It is in The National Mall. Marker can be reached from Jefferson Drive Southwest just west of 7th Street Southwest, on the left when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 775 Jefferson Dr SW, Washington DC 20591, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on October 24, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 142 times since then and 18 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on October 24, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
