Battle Scenes (2006) references a pair of miniature paintings from The Akbarnama (c.1590), a 16th Century Mughal album chronicling the life of the third Mughal Emperor Akbar. These paintings depict a gruesome battle between the emperor Akbar’s army and his warring enemies, and are typical of those produced by his imperial atelier. Working in the post 9/11 context, Abbas draws on imagery from The Akbarnama to undertake a critique of war and contemporary systems of neo-imperialism. Following the diptych form and compositional arrangement of the paintings found in The Akbarnama, Abbas’ animated work depicts an array of figures of different ages, genders and ethnic backgrounds, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, posed warrior-like against a black background. For this work Abbas persuaded visitors at various London parks to pose for her; her subjects representing a cosmopolitan snapshot of London. Haema Sivanesan
