Giant art installation in Pakistan recasts drone attack targets as more than ‘bug splats’

An oversized poster of a child covers a field in Pakistan’s Kyhber Pukhtoonkhwa province — a frequent target of U.S. drone strikes.

The art is the first piece in a collective project from artists from the United States, Pakistan and France entitled “Not a Bug Splat,” which aims to challenge military references to their drone attack targets as such. The collective hopes the poster, meant to be visible from a drone’s targeting cameras and intended to put a human face on drone strikes, “will create empathy and introspection amongst drone operators, and will create dialogue amongst policy makers, eventually leading to decisions that will save innocent lives.”