The piper, the prophet, the martyr

In 2003 the United States, asserting that Iraq was still concealing weapons of mass destruction and alleging links with terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, demanded military action against the Iraqi regime. However, the Security Council did not agree: a new group of weapons inspectors were still at work, and were reporting very little in the way of prohibited weapons and materials. Unable to obtain UN backing to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, the United States pressed ahead with a 'coalition of the willing': the chief participants were the United States, Britain, and Australia. The Second Gulf War commenced on about 19 March 2003. Beginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, reports of rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (also known as Baghdad Correctional Facility) came to public attention. These acts were committed by military police personnel of the United States Army together with additional US governmental agencies.

The sculpture depicts the now infamous image of a cloaked and hooded Iraqi prisoner tortured by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib, Iraq. This image has now become an emblem of how this conflict is remembered by much of Western society and was also used on the front cover of Time magazine (the 'piper'). Griggs has positioned the Iraqi victim of American torture as a 'martyr'; the victim stands in a crucifixion-like stance, we are reminded of sacrifice and surrender, especially because his hands are held in open-palmed submission with stigmata of the hands and feet. The image has become a 'prophet' warning against our loss of humanity in the face of war and that under certain circumstances every culture is capable of perpetrating senseless atrocity.
Griggs often uses painting, installation and dark humour to highlight the human potential for violence towards others, as he states, "I was taking serious issues from socially and politically charged events and turning them into clichés". He also explores marginalised and repressed communities, living much of the year in the slums of Manila. The faith and Catholicism of the people he lives amongst often influences his work as can be seen in the stigmata and martyr references of the sculpture.