Phil Collins is internationally recognised for a socially engaged practice that, at varying scales and modalities, addresses the intersections of art, politics and popular culture. Often situated in geopolitical contexts marked by violent histories and the contested legacies of British imperialism, his works move beyond dominant ideological frameworks, seeking instead a more nuanced and empathetic perspective. Across geographies, ethnicities, languages and social classes, Collins’ approach is guided by an ethos of connection, critical consciousness and disarming immediacy. 

Filmed in Baghdad a year before the 2003 US- and UK-led invasion of Iraq, baghdad wedding (2002) focuses on two brief yet evocative moments of celebration and joy. A girl dances hesitantly at a festive gathering, her unguarded, haunting movements suspended in the descending dusk. On a sunlit street, a group of young men jubilantly revel around a newlywed couple. Bathed in silence and rendered in slow motion, these seemingly ordinary moments take on a dreamlike, poetic quality. In retrospect, they read as a quiet, mournful foreshadowing of the violence and destruction soon to unfold.