Mohammed Sami’s paintings combine memories of his life in wartime Iraq with images from news footage, propaganda, and other documentation. Many of his scenes are centered around domestic spaces implicated in warfare, from Saddam Hussein’s pillaged mansions to small homes menaced by violence. Memory, trauma, and history are his primary subjects, as is the troubled relationship between Iraq, the greater Middle East, and the United States. War at Home depicts an off-center window framed by a black wall and lace curtains. It looks out onto a dark and barren landscape whose sky is alight with the glow of incoming missiles. At the base of the window, two children’s toys, a clown and a toy soldier, stare through the glass. The toys can be seen as a sign of innocence, but also a childhood corrupted by war. The delicacy of the lace is disrupted by drips of white paint that subtly yet compellingly suggest action or chaos. The black paint of the borders is handled in different thicknesses and applied in varying directions, adding texture and energy to the scene. In its composition and subject matter, War at Home unsettles the viewer psychologically at the same time that it destabilizes their perspective. Experience takes on a dream-like appearance, while the distinction between inside and outside, reality and reflection, becomes confused.