Artist Statement/ Biography

Disillusioned with his country’s military actions in Iraq, William Chan, a U.S. veteran of the 2003 Iraq invasion, sought better ways to serve his country without betraying his conscience. Ten Years After Iraq, one of most important works in response to the Iraq war, concludes with an apology he felt owed to the people of Iraq. In the lead-up to the 2020 U.S. elections, Chan began a series of interventionist performances at public venues such as presidential rallies, museum events, and human rights protests to continue this conversation to a broader audience.

--

William Chan is a political activist, lecturer, and artist based in New York. His works on Iraq are used as course material at notable institutions such as Harvard University. His book was nominated for the ICP Infinity Award and is held at public libraries such as the Tim Hetherington Library at the Bronx Documentary Center, Tate Modern, Yale, The Met, Harvard among others. In 2019, in recognition as an emerging filmmaker, he was nominated for the Union Docs UNDO fellowship.