From where a drone operator’s sitting, one blurry blob of pixels looks almost exactly like the next blurry blob of pixels, which is how the term “bug splat” worked its way into modern military slang as a way of referring to a kill. Now, though, a giant art installation in Pakistan wants to show drone operators that its people are anything but anonymous white blobs—and that that “bug splat” belongs to an actual human being.
The giant portrait was installed by an artist collective in the region of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa in Pakistan, an area where drone attacks occur on a fairly regular basis.
The next time a drone operator looks down, he or she will be seeing the face of an innocent child instead of clusterings of white, shapeless blobs. And even if the installation gets pulled, the portrait was apparently designed to be big enough to register on satellite imagery, ensuring it at least has some staying power on online mapping systems.
The identity of the child depicted in the portrait is currently unknown, but according to the Reprieve/Foundation for Fundamental Rights, she has lost both of her parents as well as two siblings to drone attacks. Whether or not this will actually encourage policy makers to change how drones operate remains to be seen, but at the very least, it sends a powerful message to pretty much everyone looking on from the ground.
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[Not a Bug Splat via @malonebarry]
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