The sculptor and filmmaker Alia Farid’s first public art commission in North America was installed earlier this month on the elevated plinth on Meyer Green between Green Library and Stanford Law School. The sculpture is composed of two large amulet forms leaning against one another, each with seven apertures, referred to as “seven eyes.” The design alludes to divination practices and beckons viewers to consider the origins of objects and artifacts in Stanford’s museums, libraries, and research centers.

This is Stanford’s second commission for the Plinth Project. Keeping company with several sculptures in the permanent public art collection installed on the adjacent lawn, Amulets will be on view for three years.

Farid’s art practice explores the relationship between industrial practices and handmade objects, serving as a method of critical inquiry into the experience of being and belonging amid global precarity. Amulets references themes of water and oil extraction, utilizing two predominant Iraqi materials: blue faience, a turquoise glaze that dates back over 6,000 years, and polyester resin, a byproduct of petroleum production that originated in the 20th century.

During Farid's research at Stanford, she discovered that the Cantor Arts Center collection has numerous blue faience objects, including some from the original Stanford Family Collections. Additionally, the Hoover Institution held extensive Iraqi government records related to Saddam Hussein's Ba'th Party. While most of the records have since been returned to Iraq, digitized copies remain. Amulets locates the blue faience objects and the Iraqi archives in crucial discussions about material culture, extraction, repatriation, and restitution. 

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Through interwoven themes, Farid encourages viewers to reflect on political and material entanglements with the environment. She writes, “Amulets’ materiality makes visible the entwined biopolitical histories of water, oil, and war in the Arab peninsula.” 

“The sculpture’s blend of materials symbolizes a dialogue between historical heritage and modern artistic expression, emphasizing the enduring relevance of cultural artifacts in contemporary contexts,” said Haidar Hadi, Middle East curator and digital systems manager at the Hoover Institution. 

During the installation, Farid met with Stanford faculty and staff to consider how her work might be a teaching tool or reference point. Anna Bigelow, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Religious Studies and faculty director of the Center for South Asia, said she is excited to investigate the layers of meaning in the work in her course, Islam and Material Culture. “Amulets is a striking contemporary piece articulating a complex engagement with the extractive oil industry and U.S. military imperialism in the Persian Gulf,” Bigelow said, “but it is also evoking an ancient form associated with the natural world and the protective power of the eyes represented by seven perforations here.” 

Farid plans to return to campus over the course of the exhibition period for potential collaborations, public programs, and student engagement activities, as well as to further her own research interests.

“As we have already seen over the course of the installation, Amulets draws in curious viewers with its compelling shape and blue-green glow and invites many possibilities for interpretation and engagement,” said Anne Shulock, assistant vice president for the arts, who helped lead the project under the auspices of the university’s Public Art Committee. “I am excited for how Amulets can activate the Plinth as a site of creative energy and intellectual exchange in the heart of campus.”