Aunty Jam

Aunty Jam consists of a locked steel cage that rests against a pair of cast concrete combat boots. Attached to the upper portion of the cage are five wire elements: four twisted into the shape of stars and one twisted into the shape of a pair of legs. All have been covered with pantyhose. As is typical of Lucas’s work, Aunty Jam evokes sex and death, lust and violence. These references are grounded in a very particular historical moment: the first two years of the Iraq War. More specifically, Aunty Jam allegorizes the human rights violations carried out by the United States at Abu Ghraib Prison. The latter gained considerable attention after a 60 Minutes II broadcast in April 2004 and a New Yorker article in May 2004, both of which featured photographs of American soldiers and contractors abusing Iraqi prisoners through the use of excessive restraint and sexual humiliation.