Bady Dalloul
Flush, Algiers Agreement (1975)

The Great Game is a series of works composed of a number of card combinations illustrated by the faces of key political figures shaping the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East. Each reconstituted ‘hand of play’ corresponds to a diplomatic treaty establishing or modifying geographical borders. The plastic form of a poker hand-chosen by the artist highlights the randomness of the process of fixing boundaries and the way in which they do not account for the lives of those located there. These eleven works cover two major themes of Bady Dalloul’s artistic practice, play and power relations in geopolitics. Dalloul illustrates here theAlgiers Agreements signed on 6 March 1975 between Iraq and Iran. The treaty marked the agreement of both countries on the demarcation of the natural border of the Shatt-el-Arab River as well as the end of Iranian support for the Kurdish people, in opposition to the Iraqi regime. These agreements were challenged five years later by Iraq when the two countries entered the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). The artist depicts five key figures in the signing of this agreement (from left to right); Mustafa al-Barzani, Saddam Hussein, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Houari Boumediene, and Abdelaziz Bouteflika.